Punjab has accumulated a debt of over ₹47,000 crore in the past a year and a half, prompting calls from economists to rationalise freebies amid lack of resources to make fresh capital investments as the State’s outstanding debt hovers over 50% of its GDP.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, responding to a letter from Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Tuesday, said a “mammoth” amount of ₹27,000 crore went into paying interest on the debt that was inherited from the past regimes.
He said the State borrowed around ₹32,447 crore in 2022-23 and ₹14,660 crore from April to August 2023.
