Bhubaneswar: The per capita loan burden in Odisha has more than doubled in the past 12 years. The loan burden has reached at Rs 22,827.54 by the end of January of the current financial year. This was informed Monday by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari in the Odisha Legislative Assembly while replying to a question of Congress MLA Suresh Routray.
As per Pujari’s statement, from Rs 9,358.35 in 2010-11, per head loan burden has climbed up to Rs 22,827.54 by January. The burden increased to Rs 9,942.88 in 2014-15, and kept going up to Rs 11,822.12 in 2015-16, Rs 13,994.47 in 2016-17, Rs 16,450.93 in 2017-18 and Rs 18,029.87 in 2018-19.
The per head debt burden crossed Rs 20,000 mark to Rs 21,192.68 in 2019-20 and again rose to Rs 23,761.82 in 2020-21. However, it dipped to Rs 22,827.54 till January of the current fiscal (2021-22).
The Odisha government has not borrowed a single penny from the open market during the current financial year 2021-22, Pujari told the Assembly. He said all state governments in India borrow funds, which is as per the FRBM Act. The Act has empowered the state to raise funds up to 25 per cent of the GSDP. Odisha is towards the bottom position but not the last in India on loan burden. Excluding Karnataka, all other states have remained above Odisha when it comes to loan burden, pointed out the Finance Minister.
“I am very much hopeful that Odisha will secure the bottom position in the loan burden after the end of this financial year,” Pujari said.
For a developing state, loans are being raised for development purposes. Whatever funds were raised through borrowing since 2004-05, all were spent for development activities, Pujari stated. He added, “Never was the loan utilised for non-plan purpose or providing salary to the employees.”
During the current financial year till January, Odisha has borrowed Rs 10,834.29 crore. The loan borrowing includes Rs 7,078.58 crore from the Union government, Rs 1,955.71 crore from NABARD and Rs 1,800 crore from Rural Electrification Corporation and other sources.
However, the loan repayment figure succeeded the borrowing figure as the government has made repayment of Rs 12,817.47 crore till January of this year. Moreover, the state has paid Rs 3,607.13 crore as interest against the borrowed loans.
