The State is scrambling to raise resources to ensure uninterrupted implementation of the spree of welfare and developmental programmes such as Rythu Bandhu (farmers’ investment support scheme) and Dalit Bandhu (one-time grant of 10 lakh each to Dalit families) as funds are hard to come by.
The total debt including the borrowings by the public sector enterprises reached ₹4.33 lakh crore at the end of financial year 2021-22 and the burden is likely to be higher in fiscal 2022-23, considering the more-than-₹40,000 crore raised through market borrowings and other instruments. This is in comparison with the ₹75,557 crore debt it had inherited at the time of the State formation in 2014. The Union Finance Ministry said that of the ₹4.33 lakh crore outstanding, the State government’s debt stood at ₹2.83 lakh crore and the loans availed by the State-owned enterprises/institutions from commercial banks were to the tune of ₹1.31 lakh crore while loans taken from NABARD stood at ₹19,431 crore.
According to the Union Finance Ministry’s data, the State’s public debt outstanding continued to mount from ₹83,968 crore in 2014-15, including ₹8,121 crore raised during the year, reaching ₹2.83 lakh crore at the end of the 2021-22 fiscal. As a result, budgetary allocation for debt servicing are increasing each passing year with over ₹22,000 crore being earmarked for the current fiscal. This was against the ₹18,911 crore projected for interest payment last fiscal and the State ended up paying over ₹20,000 crore.
