-Galla S Kiran Kumar,Bureau Chief Telagana (Andhra Pradesh)
Andhra Pradesh’s debts are becoming a topic of discussion across the country. According to the latest statistics, the total debt burden of the state including pending bills has exceeded Rs.9 lakh crore.
According to the Union Minister’s calculations, AP’s loans are Rs 4,42,442 crores.
The reason for this difference is the state government’s secrecy.
The ongoing CAG special audit on corporate loans
is not revealing the burden of pending bills.
Today – Amaravati
Andhra Pradesh’s debts are becoming a topic of discussion across the country. According to the latest statistics, the total debt burden of the state including pending bills has exceeded Rs.9 lakh crore. But… the central government declared AP’s debts as Rs.4,42,442 crores in the Rajya Sabha. Why is there such a huge difference? What is the state government doing to hide the facts? What debts is he hiding? What is the COG’s exercise to find loopholes in these calculations? What do the finance experts say about this whole affair…?
A secret from the beginning
The state government is hiding many aspects regarding loans. Many questions remain unanswered. The latest figures of thousands of crores of loans taken by various public sector corporations are not officially disclosed. A team of CAG officers from Delhi has specially come and inspected the state secretariat for a few days but they are not providing the requested figures comprehensively. There were verbal instructions to lower level officials not to give any details. On the other hand, for the last four years, the government has not officially disclosed the total amount of pending bills. It is for these reasons that the real financial burden on Andhra Pradesh is not being realized. If we collate the information collected from senior officials, some experts and various official circles who previously worked in key positions in the state finance department, the current burden on AP is Rs.9,16,696 crores. On the other hand, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhuri recently said in the Rajya Sabha… AP’s loans at the end of March 2023 were Rs. 4,42,442 crores. These calculations are not calculated by the Center itself. Based on the book published by RBI. The Union Minister of State for Finance himself clarified in the official documents given in the Rajya Sabha that he is revealing the details based on the statistics in the book published by the RBI named ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets 2022-23’. The RBI has stated in the respective books that every calculation mentioned by them is based on the figures proposed and revised by the state governments in their budgets. That means… whatever the Center reveals in the Rajya Sabha, whatever the RBI shows on its website, they are all state government calculations. The difference in the debt figures is coming only because the RBI and the central government have revealed the figures that the state hides many debts.
Public Account Debt is the real issue
The state government naturally raises loans from the open market and public account. Open market loans are raised through auctions conducted by the RBI as per the approvals of the Ministry of Finance. Hence it is clear to the RBI how much the open market debt is. Public Account Debts are known only to the State Government. This term includes the amounts taken from employees in various ways and the loans raised by corporations. Loans raised by corporations such as Employees’ PF and AP GLI are not credited to the Consolidated Fund. Consent of the Legislature is required to spend from the amount credited to the Consolidated Fund. Transfer of funds kept in PD accounts under the same public account can be done by executive order. Even the loans taken by various corporations were originally held in bank accounts. After that, they are kept in PD accounts and used by the government. It is for this reason that the state is not disclosing the details of these debts. Due to this, the nature of the actual debts is not known.
* The figures of the state government till the end of March 2022 are yet to be revealed. The CAG has to finalize them. There is a huge difference between the government’s estimates and the revised estimates. This problem is due to the fact that the amount of loans taken by the government employees PF, APGLI etc. is not calculated comprehensively and they are not disclosed as they are. It is already known that there is a dispute between the state government and trade unions over the issue of GPF arrears of employees.
Any comprehensive details of corporation debts?
The government is not disclosing comprehensively the amount of loans taken by the government and the amount paid by the corporations. The CAG makes it clear in its monthly reports that they are asking for details on the debts of corporations, but they are not disclosing any of those figures. It is questionable why the details and statistics are not submitted to the CAG if all the loans are taken and spent transparently. No more example is needed to say that the state government is hiding the details of its debts. Non-guaranteed loans are also not included in total loan calculations.
What about pending bills?
And the government has kept many bills pending for four years without payment. These arrears are estimated to be up to Rs.1.50 lakh crore in the last three years. They will not be included in the next budget proposals. Calculations state that there are already pending bills up to Rs.35 thousand crores in the current financial year. State government officials never reveal the amount of pending bills. Apart from saying that the figures change from time to time… it also does not reveal how many pending bills there are at a particular time. Cases have been filed against these in the High Court. Amid all these secrets, there is no other way to say what the actual facts are in the calculations that the state gives to the RBI and the calculations that the center discloses based on that report.
* The figures of the state government till the end of March 2022 are yet to be revealed. The CAG has to finalize them. There is a huge difference between the government’s estimates and revised estimates… and the actual figures that have been published in the past and later. This problem is due to the fact that the amount of loans taken by the government employees PF, APGLI etc. is not calculated comprehensively and they are not disclosed as they are. It is already known that there is a dispute between the state government and trade unions over the issue of GPF arrears of employees.
