mineral resources Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Jharkhand have emerged as top performing ‘achievers’ among the states included in NITI Aayog’s first Fiscal Health Index report. The report titled ‘Fiscal Health Index 2025’ covers 18 major states. These states largely drive the Indian economy in terms of their contribution to India’s gross domestic product (GDP), demography, total public expenditure, revenue and overall fiscal sustainability. The report says Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala have been the worst performing states in the Fiscal Health Index (FHI).
Odisha on top
In this report prepared with the aim of developing understanding about the fiscal position of the states, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka have been kept in the ‘front row’ category. This report was released by 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya. According to the report, Odisha is in an excellent position in terms of fiscal health with the highest overall score of 67.8. It has topped the debt index (99.0) and debt sustainability (64.0) rankings with better than average performance under quality of expenditure and revenue mobilization.
Situation in Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala is not good
Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh along with Odisha also achieved the highest average FHI score over the period 2014-15 to 2021-22. In contrast, Kerala and Punjab are struggling with low quality of expenditure and debt sustainability. West Bengal is also facing issues of revenue mobilization and debt index. According to the report, fiscal deficit is high in Andhra Pradesh, while Haryana’s debt position is poor. The data used to calculate the Fiscal Health Index is collected from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
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