India’s State Fiscal Health Tracker

Most RBI fiscal tables report amounts in rupees. Absolute amounts are not directly comparable across states because larger states generally have larger economies and budgets. Deficits, outstanding liabilities and guarantees are therefore divided by GSDP. Interest and pension payments are divided by revenue receipts, while capital outlay is divided by total expenditure. These ratios show the scale of a fiscal measure relative to the resources or economic base against which it is being assessed.

Where a direct revenue-receipts series is not included in the source data used by the tracker, revenue receipts are derived by subtracting the revenue deficit from revenue expenditure. Own revenue is calculated as the sum of own tax revenue and own non-tax revenue. Total expenditure is calculated as the sum of revenue expenditure and capital expenditure. All components used in a calculation must refer to the same state or Union Territory, financial year and data vintage.

RBI’s fiscal tables and the GSDP series are not always released or revised at the same time. A state or Union Territory may therefore have a fiscal figure for a year but no matching GSDP denominator, or a component needed for a derived ratio may be unavailable. The tracker does not carry forward a previous year’s denominator or treat missing data as zero. Such observations are shown in grey and excluded from that year’s ranking. Readers can select an earlier year to view the last available observation.

The map uses a fixed colour range for each indicator across all available years so that colours remain comparable when the year changes. The visual endpoints are limited to the fifth and ninety-fifth percentiles to prevent extreme observations from compressing the rest of the scale. This affects colour only. Labels, charts and rankings always use the original values.

Percentages are generally displayed to one decimal place in charts and tables and to two decimal places in detailed tooltips. Rankings are calculated using unrounded values, so two displayed values may appear equal while retaining a defined order.

The fiscal figures in this tracker are nominal rupee amounts. The GSDP denominator is therefore also taken at current prices for the same financial year. Using constant-price GSDP would combine nominal fiscal amounts with an inflation-adjusted denominator measured at base-year prices, producing an economically inconsistent ratio.

Actuals are figures recorded in government accounts after the financial year has ended. RBI may label these figures “Accounts”; the tracker displays them as “Actuals”. Revised Estimates, or RE, are updated estimates for a financial year, while Budget Estimates, or BE, are the figures presented in the budget for that year. For the present RBI release, years through 2022-23 are mapped to Actuals, 2023-24 to RE and 2024-25 to BE where a source header does not state the vintage. This release-specific mapping is reviewed against workbook headers and footnotes during every annual update and is not advanced automatically.

Rankings use the original unrounded ratios. For fiscal deficit, outstanding liabilities, guarantees, interest and pension indicators, lower values rank higher. For own revenue and capital outlay, higher values rank higher. The ranking describes performance only on the selected indicator; it is not an overall assessment of a state or Union Territory’s finances.

For years up to 2018-19, figures reported for the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir include the territory that became the Union Territory of Ladakh. Those observations are therefore treated as one analytical unit. From 2019-20 onwards, figures labelled Jammu & Kashmir relate to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. The tracker does not attempt to split the pre-reorganisation series.

For years up to 2013-14, the Andhra Pradesh figures include Telangana. Those observations are shown as one analytical unit and counted once. From 2014-15 onwards, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are treated separately when data is available. The tracker does not attempt to split the earlier combined series.