The government of Haryana has received a whopping sum of Rs 70,126 crore in loans from various public sector banks since April 1, 2014.
The state government used its largest loan of 15,602 crore rupees with the Punjab National Bank from April 1, 2014 to November 30, 2021, according to data tabled in parliament in response to a question on Monday.
The loans were sanctioned by the PSBs to various companies and corporations owned by the Haryana government.
The BJP government came to power in Haryana in October 2014, while the BJP-JJP coalition government took the reins in October 2019.
According to the data, the Bank of India sanctioned a total loan of Rs 13,262 crore to the state government from April 2014 to November 2021. Similarly, the Bank of Baroda sanctioned a loan of Rs 7,796 crore, the Bank of India sanctioned Rs 4,300 crore, Canara Bank sanctioned a sum of Rs 5,438 crore, Central Bank of India sanctioned Rs 2,050 crore to the government of Haryana.
During the same period Rs 9800 crore was sanctioned by State Bank of India, Rs 5450 crore by UCO Bank, Rs 5528 crore sanctioned by Union Bank of India, Rs 600 crore by Indian Overseas Bank and Rs 300 crore by Punjab and Sind Bank.
“In accordance with the provisions of clause (b) of subsection (1) of section 21A of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934, the RBI, in agreement with any state government, may undertake the issuance of any new loan by the latter.
In accordance with the same, RBI acts as the banker of all state governments except Sikkim. So new loans are issued by the RBI (not the banks) in its capacity as the state government banker, ”he said in the response.
Notably, Haryana’s debt is projected at Rs 2,29,976 crore in March 2022 against Rs 1,99,823 crore in March 2021, which represents 25.92% of the GSDP. The state government has come under heavy criticism from opposition parties over Haryana’s burgeoning indebtedness.
The total state debt was Rs 70,931 crore in 2014-15, when the BJP first seized power in the state. While preparing the 2022-2023 budget estimates, the state government recently asked its departments to keep in mind the need to save when preparing the budget estimates.
The government had issued a series of guidelines to control spending in the upcoming budget while saying Haryana’s economy was facing a setback due to the stagnation induced by the COVID-19 lockdown.
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