State pays Rs 20,694 cr interest on loans in last 7 yrs

The Orissa government has paid interest to the tune of Rs 20,694.50 crore during 2005-06 to 2011-12 on loans taken by it from Government of India (GoI) and other institutions as its debt burden has mounted to Rs 38,090.61 crore by the end of 2011-12.

“The state government has paid interest of Rs 3,697.10 crore in 2005-06, Rs 3,188.43 crore in 2006-07, Rs 3,169.48 crore in 2007-08, Rs 2,889.81 crore in 2008-09, Rs 3,044.17 crore in 2009-10, Rs 3061.46 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 1,644.05 crore in 2011-12”, finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai informed the state assembly.

Of the state's outstanding loan amount of Rs 38,090.61 crore, GoI debt stood at Rs 7,324.26 crore while loans from National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) and open market borrowings were Rs 8,529.41 crore and Rs 5,286.61 crore respectively. The state owed Rs 2,390.12 crore to National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) while loans from General Provident Fund (GPF) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) stood at Rs 13,379.22 crore and Rs 292.80 crore respectively by the end of 2011-12.

The Opposition had recently alleged that the incumbent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government had piled up debt stock of around Rs 20,000 crore in the past 10 years. The state's debt stock had shot up from Rs 18,100.80 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 38,090.61 crore by the end of last fiscal which represented 16.90 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). The state government had not resorted to any open market borrowing since 2006-07. The BJD had countered the allegation, claiming that the loans taken were used for development work.