Raising receipts, accelerating economy's size key to address debt problem

The Centre's debt had risen by around ten percentage points of GDP during 2020-21 compared to the previous year, while the state's debt by little more than four percentage points of GDP

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Centre is looking at ways to reduce government debt to ensure that future generations are not burdened. She said recently that the country's debt levels are not very high compared to the global average.

Since the Covid-hit year of 2020-21, India's (both the Centre and the states') debt has not come below 80 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). It touched nearly 90 per cent (89.45 per cent) during 2020-21. Of this, the Centre's liabilities were around 63 per cent and the state's at 31 per cent. These