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In a recent interview to Business Standard, West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra raised the issue of growing indebtedness at the state government level. In fact, he likened the situation to a "ticking time bomb".A look back at the recent past, as chart 1 shows, if the aggregate level of total outstanding debt and liabilities of all states, as a percentage of GDP is taken, the states have reduced their debts. However, the pace of improvement seems to have stalled since financial year 2012-13.For the most part, state finances have gained because of improved revenue receipts and increased transfers from the Centre, as shown by chart 2. However, an improvement in the states' own tax revenues, which has been a key contributor.As such, state-level gross fiscal deficits have worsened over the past few financial years, as shown by chart 3. It is crucial to note that these numbers do not include the impact of the increased debt burden on account of the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY). M

StatsGuru: The state of states' finances

Business Standard

Enterprise-level IT spawns many efficiencies

Enterprises having a business process management system improved their operating margin by 200 basis points because of better inventory control

India has seen 15 PMs since Independence. We bring you a collection of memorable quotes from some of these PMs' I-Day speeches through the years

PMSPEAK from Red Fort: Vision India

Data suggests the average age of Members of Parliament has been increasing over the years. This is not the only change that has come about in 70 years

Road to 70: Then & now

Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a way forward>Status & GoalsIndranil works as a project manager with an infrastructure company, while his wife is a homemaker. Their son, Rahul, is studying in the third year in an Indian Institute of Technology. The couple primarily wants to fund their son's master's degree, followed by retirement planning

Case study

Constitutional law experts may enlighten the Indian public as to whether the Supreme Court's order levying a tax (called cess in this case) on diesel vehicle buyers of a certain class is intra vires of the Constitution

Letters: Failing at democracy

Mitali Saran's article, "Happy 70th to us" (August 13), contains nothing but a litany of biased complaints against the Bharatiya Janata Party

Letters: Gau raksha good for all?

With reference to Apurva Venkat's article, "Gadget addiction: A worrying trend among India's uber-cool millennials" (August 7)

Letters: All-encompassing Net

Under pressure from banks, the promoter of a big debt-laden group wanted to sell his power plant located at a hill station

Acquisition for natural beauty

Bihar Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui is expected to quit the Cabinet post in Nitish Kumar's government and devote himself full-time to sports administration

Sports over politics

In 2006, Hyderabad scored over Bengaluru to get a United States consulate. It was considered a loss to India's tech hub from where thousands apply for visas to the US

Waiting for a consulate

The Medical Council's inaction defies logic

End the organ trade racket

Govt must guard against farm commodities' price crash

Hopes of bumper harvest

Michael Phelps' position in sports history is assured

The greatest Olympian

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna exchange hifi during their match  against  S. Stosur and J. Peers of Australia during the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna exchange hi-five during their match  against  S. Stosur and J. Peers of Australia during the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil

n Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna cruised into the semifinals, as they defeated Britain's Andy Murray and Heather Watson with remarkable ease with a 6-4 6-4 scoreline in just 67 minutes. One more victory will ensure India a silver medal and a defeat in the semifinals would give Sania and Bopanna a chance to fight for the bronzen Pugilist Vikas Krishnan advanced to the quarters of men's 75kg middleweight boxing. He outclassed Turkey's Sipal Onder 3-0 and is now only a win away from an elusive Olympic medaln The men's hockey team, already assured of a berth in the quarter finals, led twice against lowly Canada before allowing their rivals to bounce back and earn a 2-2 draw in their concluding pool gamen In badminton, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were eliminated from women's doubles event after losing a second successive group A clash, while Manu Attri and his partner B Sumeeth Reddy crashed to their second defeat in the group and were knocked out of medal reckoning

A day at the Games: How India fared on Day 8 in Rio

Is this going to be the caste governance model put in place by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the future? So far the party has avoided appointing representatives of dominant castes in states. Vijay Rupani, who has just become Gujarat chief minister, is a Jain whereas the dominant challenge in the state comes from Patels (Patidars).

Caste governance model for BJP?

Indian archers drew a blank at the Olympic Games on Friday

Rio Olympics: How India fared on Day 7

There are many reasons why they do not work

Draconian laws

States must not stray from fiscal discipline

The curse of debt

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is finally about to announce the new chief of its Delhi unit

Adapting to change

Of its 543 members, there were only 69, including the Deputy Speaker, present in the Lok Sabha half an hour into the debate

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