Debt increased 8.6 times in 20 years?

The topic of debt on India is often the center of discussion. When the government's expenditure exceeds its income, it has to borrow money. This loan is government debt. There are two types of government debt - one is the loan taken from the country itself and the other is the loan taken from other countries. The biggest purpose of government debt is that the government should not have a shortage of money. Especially when the government's expenses exceed its income. government debt is seen according to the country's total income (GDP). If this percentage is high then it means that the country has a lot of debt.

How is government debt measured?

Government debt means how much money the government has borrowed. The government has to return this money with interest in the future. Whether the government sells bonds or takes loans, all this comes under government debt. Even the pension money of government employees is included in it. Governments in different countries of the world do different things, so it is difficult to compare their debt. Therefore, it is mostly seen how much debt is there on the entire government, which includes the central government, state governments and social security funds. But the debt on government companies like post offices is not counted in government debt.

How much debt is there on the country right now

The debt on the central government is increasing every year. Recently, minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, while answering a question in the Lok Sabha, said that this debt was Rs 93.26 lakh crore in 2018-19. By 2024-25, it will increase to Rs 185.27 lakh crore. In 2018-19, the debt was 49.3% of GDP, by 2024-25 it will increase to 56.8% of GDP. That is, the debt will almost double in 6 years.

The government says that many economic challenges came in the last 6 years. The government spent to meet the needs of the people. Therefore, the debt increased, but it was done thoughtfully. At the same time, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India's position is better than other countries. India's foreign debt is low. Only 18.7% of the total foreign debt is short-term debt. This is less than China, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, south africa and Bangladesh. Short-term debt means that there is less tension of repaying it quickly. India is the third country with the lowest debt in the ratio of total foreign debt and GDP.

Before Corona, in the financial year 2019-20, the government debt increased to Rs 105.07 lakh crore. This was 52.3% of the country's GDP. During Corona, in 2020-21, the debt increased further to Rs 121.86 lakh crore. It has been told that the government borrowed money to help the people. This was necessary for relief package and economic help. After the Corona epidemic, the debt increased to Rs 138.66 lakh crore in 2021-22. But this was 58.8% of GDP, i.e. less than last year. The economy was slowly improving, but the amount of debt kept increasing.