At Rs 30,680, Gujarat's per capita debts are higher than of Andhra, Maharashtra, UP, West Bengal, others

Counterview Desk
Latest calculations have suggested that those who have been citing total debt figures to suggest Gujarat is not the highest indebted state are actually hiding an important fact. While Gujarat’s total debts – or “liabilities” in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) lexicon – were Rs 1.85 lakh crore as of March 2014, and the states with a higher debts than Gujarat were Andhra Pradesh (Rs 1.94 lakh crore), Maharashtra (Rs 2.94 lakh crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 2.85 lakh crore), and West Bengal (Rs 2.45 lakh crore), this hides the crucial factor: Gujarat’s per capita debt is higher than all these “more indebted” states.
Thus, every child in Gujarat is born with a liability burden or debt of Rs 30,680, which higher than that of Andhra Pradesh (Rs 22,911), Maharashtra (Rs 26,185), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 14,284), and West Bengal (Rs 27,855). The all-India average of per capita debt is nearly Rs 9,000 lower than that of Gujarat, Rs 20,110. In terms of per capita debt, the states which have a higher debt liability than Gujarat are Punjab (Rs 37,004) and Kerala (Rs 35,847).
A year earlier, Gujarat’s per capita debts, if calculated on the basis of the data released by the RBI, were Rs 29,220, higher than all the major states which have a higher debt than Gujarat’s. West Bengal’s per capita debts were Rs 25,238, Maharashtra’s Rs 25,146, Andhra Pradesh’s Rs 20,495, and Uttar Pradesh’s Rs 13,628.
As is clear from these calculations, Gujarat indeed has higher per-capita debt than other comparable states, despite having the fourth highest outstanding debt in the country. The figures are based on the RBI report “State Finances: A Study of Budgets” for 2012-12 and 2013-14.
The report, which includes internal debt taken from the market and other funding sources as also different types of liabilities, has said that the state’s total debts would rise by about Rs 21,000 crore in a year, from Rs 1.64 lakh crore last year as of March 2013. A rise of 12.87 per cent in a year, this was the highest increase in the debts in the last three years.

Gujarat’s total debts were Rs 1.43 lakh in March 2011, rose by 5.79 per cent to reach Rs 1.51 lakh crore in March 2012, and further to Rs 1.64 lakh crore in March 2013, a rise of 8.50 per cent. Debts have been a major reason for the Gujarat government to avoid budget deficit in the recent past. They go to fund nearly 20 per cent of the state’s budget.
Significantly, if the RBI report is any indication, the state’s debts formed 24.6 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) between 2010 and 2014, which is higher than the national average – 22.2 per cent. Debt-GSDP ratio signifies how deep a particular economy is in debt. Of the total Rs 1.85 lakh crore, Rs 1.45 lakh crore is internal debt.
The issue of debt sustainability of Gujarat has been a reason for major debate, especially among public figures. While politicians opposed to the BJP government in Gujarat argue that high debts are a reason of major concern, leading to great financial stress on the coffers, state officials say Gujarat’s debts are “perfectly sustainable”, as the state has paid all of them on dot.
State officials believe that a high rate of growth of the state economy is one reason why the Gujarat government is able to withstand any debt trap, in which states like West Bengal have got into. Critics, however, say that the state has been able to sustain high debts mainly because it has not been spending “enough” on the social sector, particularly education.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog