The BJP-led NDA government that has been accusing the states of borrowing more than the prescribed limit has itself caught up in the debt trap.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India reprimanded the Centre in this regard. As against the actual limit of 40 percent of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act 2003, it had borrowed 54 percent of the GDP. The Centre this year paid interest on loans to the tune of Rs 8.05 lakh crore.
The CAG report shows the fiscal mismanagement of the BJP government. It said the fiscal management was worst during 2015-2016 to 2019-2020. The loans which were 5.5 percent of GDP in 2015-2016 went up to 52.30 percent in 2019-202 and to 54 percent in 2022-2023.
The Centre has paid interest on borrowings to the tune of 34 percent of its revenues in 2019-2020 and it went up to 37 percent in 2022-2023.
The CAG report said Mr Modi’s government borrowed on an average of Rs 7 lakh crore per annum between 2015-2020. The loans which were Rs 69.55 lakh crores in 2015-2016 went up to Rs 105 lakh crore in 2019-2020.
In the last five years Mr Modi’s government borrowed Rs 35 lakh crore, the report revealed.
But the Centre has been adopting a step-motherly attitude towards non-BJP ruled states and restricting them from borrowing loans within the prescribed limits of FRBM and refusing to rise the FRBM limit.
The Telangana government for instance has been doing well on the fiscal management aspect, but the BJP government at the Centre is trying to curtail the progress of the Telangana state. It has been coming up with rules and regulations diluting the federal spirit of the country.
The latest CAG report should be an eye opener for the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao