Lok Sabha Question No. 3700 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-24
Subject: Debt and Liabilities of States
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Shri Manish Tewari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3700 TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, 24 th  March, 2025 03 CHAITRA, 1947 (SAKA)

## DEBT AND LIABILITIES OF STATES

## 3700. SHRI MANISH TEWARI :

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the quantum of debt and other liabilities of various States in the country along with the total combined debt and liabilities of all the States as of March 31, 2025;
- (b) the total debt and outstanding liabilities of the Government as of March 31, 2025;
- (c) the details of the five States  in the country which have the highest and the lowest debt-to GSDP ratio, respectively;
- (d) the manner in which the combined debt-to-GDP ratio of all States compares to that of the Government during the last five years; and
- (e) whether the Government has conducted any assessment of the impact of off-budget borrowings and contingent liabilities on State finances, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d) The quantum of debt and other liabilities of various States as on March 31, 2025 will be known only after the end of the Financial Year (FY) 2024-25. However, as per the information published  by  the  Reserve Bank of  India  (RBI) in 'State Finances:  A Study of Budgets', the estimated debt & other liabilities of various States and State wise debt to Gross

State Domestic Product (GSDP) ratio in descending order as on March 31, 2025 are given in Annexure .

As per the information provided by RBI, the estimated combined liabilities of the Central & State Governments as on March 31, 2025 is Rs. 2,67,35,462 Crore. The trend of debt to Gross Domestic  Product  (GDP)  ratio  of  the  Central  Government  and  debt  to  GSDP  ratio  of  all States & Union Territories (UTs) with Legislature is given in Table below:

(in percent)

| Year               |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 (Revised Estimates) |
|--------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------------------------|
| States and UTs     |      26.6 |      31   |      29.1 |      28.2 |                          28.5 |
| Central Government |      52.3 |      61.4 |      58.8 |      57.9 |                          58.1 |

(e) All States have enacted their Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act. Compliance  to  the  State  FRBM  Act  is  monitored  by  the  respective  State  Legislatures. Department  of  Expenditure,  Ministry  of  Finance  follows  uniform  yardstick  for  the  fiscal deficit of States while exercising the powers to approve borrowings by States under Article 293 (3) of the Constitution of India. The normal Net Borrowing Ceiling (NBC) of each State is  fixed  by  the  Union  Government  in  the  beginning  of  each  financial  year,  accordingly. Adjustments for the over-borrowing by States during previous years, if any, are made in the borrowing limits of subsequent years.

Instances of off-budget borrowings by certain State Public Sector companies, Special Purpose vehicles (SPVs) and other equivalent instruments, where principal and/or interest are to be serviced out of the State Budgets, had come to the notice of the Ministry of Finance. Considering the effect of bypassing the NBC of the States by such borrowings, it was decided and  communicated  to  the  States  in  March  2022  that  borrowings  by  State  Public  Sector companies/corporations, Special  purpose  vehicles (SPVs) and other equivalent instruments, where  principal  and/or  interest  are  to  be  serviced  out  of  the  State  Budgets  and/or  by assignment  of  taxes/cess  or  any  other  State's  revenue,  shall  be  considered  as  Borrowings made by the State itself for the  purpose of issuing the consent under Article 293(3) of the Constitution of India.

*****

## Annexure referred to for the answer of part (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred question no. 3700 for 24.03.2025

## Estimated outstanding liabilities of all States and Debt to GSDP ratio of all States as on March 31, 2025 in descending order

|   Sl. No. | States            | Estimated outstanding Liabilities (Rs. in crore)   |   Debt-to GSDP ratio (in percent) |
|-----------|-------------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|         1 | Arunachal Pradesh | 25,464                                             |                              57   |
|         2 | Punjab            | 3,78,453                                           |                              46.6 |
|         3 | Himachal Pradesh  | 1,02,594                                           |                              45.2 |
|         4 | Nagaland          | 20,197                                             |                              40   |
|         5 | Meghalaya         | 23,145                                             |                              39   |
|         6 | West Bengal       | 7,14,196                                           |                              38   |
|         7 | Bihar             | 3,61,522                                           |                              37.3 |
|         8 | Kerala            | 4,71,091                                           |                              36.8 |
|         9 | Manipur           | 19,917                                             |                              36.7 |
|        10 | Rajasthan         | 6,37,035                                           |                              35.8 |
|        11 | Sikkim            | 19,038                                             |                              35   |
|        12 | Andhra Pradesh    | 5,62,557                                           |                              34.7 |
|        13 | Uttar Pradesh     | 8,57,844                                           |                              31.8 |
|        14 | Madhya Pradesh    | 4,80,976                                           |                              31.6 |
|        15 | Mizoram           | 14,201                                             |                              31.6 |
|        16 | Haryana           | 3,69,242                                           |                              30.4 |
|        17 | Tamil Nadu        | 9,55,691                                           |                              30.3 |
|        18 | Goa               | 35,724                                             |                              30.2 |
|        19 | Chhattisgarh      | 1,63,266                                           |                              29.1 |
|        20 | Tripura           | 26,607                                             |                              27.9 |
|        21 | Assam             | 1,77,983                                           |                              27.5 |
|        22 | Jharkhand         | 1,34,867                                           |                              26.6 |
|        23 | Karnataka         | 7,25,456                                           |                              26.5 |
|        24 | Telangana         | 4,42,298                                           |                              26.2 |
|        25 | Uttarakhand       | 95,408                                             |                              24.2 |
|        26 | Maharashtra       | 8,12,068                                           |                              19   |
|        27 | Gujarat           | 4,94,436                                           |                              17.9 |
|        28 | Odisha            | 1,54,960                                           |                              16.3 |