HYDERABAD: The debt burden on the state government will increase to Rs 3.57 lakh crore in 2023-24, according to the Budget. Last year, it stood at Rs 3.22 lakh crore. Accordingly, the interest payment will increase to Rs 22,407 crore against Rs 18,911 crore last year.
However, in terms of percentage of GSDP, the debt burden will come down to 23.8 per cent in 2023-24 against 24.3 per cent last year and will remain at permissible limits of less than 25 per cent of GSDP.
In 2020-21, the debt burden state was Rs 2,44,019 crore, which was 25.4 per cent of GSDP. It increased to Rs 2,83,452 crore in 2021-22, which was 24.7 per cent of GSDP.
In 2022-23, the debt burden increased to Rs 3,22,993 crore as per the revised estimates, which was 24.3 per cent of GSDP.
In the new Budget, it has increased to Rs 3,57,059 crore. However, the government clarified that it had not included Rs 6,949 crore that was obtained as loans from the Centre in lieu of GST compensation. The Centre had borrowed the amount and distributed it to states.
The major component of the state government's debt includes open market borrowings, which increased to Rs 3,10,363 crore this year. It was just Rs 2,03,199 crore in 2020-21, which increased to Rs 2,42,455 crore in 2021-22 and to Rs 2,79,089 crore in 2022-23.
The interest payments burden was Rs 19,161 crore in 2021-22, which reduced to Rs 18,911 crore in 2022-23 and now has been increased to Rs 22,407 crore.
The repayment of principal amount on loans also increased to Rs 9,341 crore in 2023-24, while it was Rs 6,460 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 8,336 crore in 2022-23.
