In numbers: States owe Centre over ₹3 lakh-crore; MP is biggest debtor

The states owe the Union government an outstanding loan amount is ₹3.02 lakh crore, with Madhya Pradesh topping the list at ₹30,663 crore as of March 31, 2021. This was revealed by the data shared by the Union government on loans given by it to the states since 2014.

In the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Abir Ranjan Biswas and Santanu Sen asked the Finance Minister about loans given by the Union government to the states. The reply was given by Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary. The details of state-wise and year-wise loans given to the states by the Union government since 2014 were shared along with year-wise total repayment of principal and interest related to loans and advances by the states.

However, the details of state-wise repayment of principal and interest, and details of the outstanding public debt of the states, are not available in the Finance Account of the Union government, Chaudhary said.

The Gross Fiscal Deficit (GFD) of all the states as a percentage of their GSDP since FY 2013-14, state-wise and year-wise, was also shared by the minister.

The most and the least

As per the information provided by the Central government, Madhya Pradesh has an outstanding of ₹30,663 crore, which is the most by a state. Tamil Nadu owes ₹27,505 crore to the Union government, followed by Karnataka (₹26,731 crore). Rajasthan has ₹23,537 crore pending loans and Andhra Pradesh, ₹20,994 crore. Sikkim had the least loans, of ₹296 crore.

The total outstanding loans against states is ₹3.02 lakh-crore as of March 31, 2021.

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The details of loans and advances provided by the Central government to states from 2014-15 to 2021-22 were also given. In 2014-15, ₹11,939 crore loan was given to the states while in 2015-16, it was ₹12,504 crore.

Since then, every financial year, the loans by the Union government to the states have only increased. In 2016-17, it was ₹17,768 crore while in 2017-18, it stood at ₹17,516 crore. Later, ₹23,828 crore loans were given in 2018-19, and ₹24,681 crore in 2019-20.

Five-fold increase

With the onset of the COVID pandemic, the borrowings from the states increased five-fold in FY21 and FY22 compared to the previous financial year. In 2020-21, it was ₹1.39 lakh-crore and in 2021-22, ₹1.83 lakh-crore.

“The details of FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22 include back-to-back loans extended to states in lieu of shortfall in GST compensation,” the government said.

In 2021-22, Karnataka was the highest borrower with loans of ₹20,070 crore. Maharashtra stood second with ₹18,419 crore. Gujarat took ₹13,675 crore while Tamil Nadu was fourth with ₹13,305 crore. Punjab was fifth with ₹12,585 crore. The data for 2021-22 are provisional, the government said.

From 2014-15 to 2020-21, the Centre received a total repayment of more than ₹1.45 lakh crore including interest.

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