The indebtedness of Karnataka government has increased by a massive Rs. 24,768.84 crore in 2015-16, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
The CAG’s Finance Accounts Volume-1, which is the compilation of the finance accounts of the Karnataka government for 2015-16, has brought out these facts.
The report, which was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, states that the total borrowing of Rs. 24,768.84 crore in 2015-16 was inclusive of the off-budget borrowing of Rs. 7,698.69 crore.
This took the total public debt and other liabilities of the State by the end of March 2015 to Rs. 1,75,623.08 crore which is 24.91 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product, notes the compilation, which presents the financial position along with accounts of the state receipts and disbursements .
This is just within the norms which make it clear that the outstanding liabilities should not exceed 25 per cent of the GSDP.
According to the report, the revenue deficit of the State for 2015-16 has been maintained at Rs. 19,168.73 crore, which is 2.60 per cent of GSDP as against the norms that the revenue deficit should be below 3 per cent of GSDP.
The report observes that the borrowing profile of the State in the recent years has shown an increasing trend towards relying more on open market borrowings. This is visible with the fact that the outstanding market borrowings at the end of 2015-16 stood at 48.02 per cent of the Gross Public Debt, it points out.
