politypolicy.com · by Tushar Gupta

India, in Infographics

Gujarat: Fiscally The Strongest State In India

Each cell asks who wins that one fiscal measure. Columns are sorted by Gujarat’s wins — most on the left. Hover or tap any cell for the two numbers behind it.

Gujarat ranks ahead of 25 of 27 states on the majority of the ten measures.

Revenue Balance% of GSDP

Deficit-Borrowing% of net borrowing

Capex Per ₹1capex ÷ net borrowing

Committed Spend% of total spending

Public Debt% of GSDP

Total Liabilities% of GSDP

Fiscal Deficit% of GSDP

Salary Bill% of total spending

Interest% of total spending

Subsidies% of total spending

Rev

Def

Cpx

Com

Dbt

Lia

Fis

Sal

Int

Sub

Andhra Pradesh

Punjab

Rajasthan

Tamil Nadu

Chhattisgarh

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

Karnataka

Kerala

Telangana

West Bengal

Assam

Bihar

Madhya Pradesh

Mizoram

Maharashtra

Meghalaya

Uttarakhand

Manipur

Nagaland

Sikkim

Tripura

Goa

Jharkhand

Uttar Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Odisha

Gujarat ahead Gujarat behind tie Himalayan / hill state

How to read it: ten measures down the side, the other 27 states across the top, one cell per match-up. Each cell is that one measure only — the board is not an overall score. A caution carried from the matrix: Himalayan and north-eastern states, most of them small and heavily centre-funded, can post unusually strong ratios; they stay in the board, so read their columns with that in mind.

Download Post It Punjab’s Board → The Numbers ↓

Free to use anywhere with credit to politypolicy.com

The Data

Every measure behind the board, exactly as the State Finances Matrix publishes it — with Punjab beside it, and the best and worst state on each row.

Measure	Gujarat	Rank	Punjab	Rank	Best	Worst
Revenue Balance% of GSDP	+0.71	10th/28	-3.88	28th/28	Arunachal Pradesh	Punjab
Borrowing That Plugs The Deficit% of net borrowing	0	1st/28	95	28th/28	Arunachal Pradesh	Punjab
Capital Built Per ₹1 Borrowedpaise of capex per ₹1 of net borrowing	312	4th/28	21	28th/28	Jharkhand	Punjab
Committed Expendituresalaries + pensions + interest	26.6	4th/28	55.5	25th/28	Arunachal Pradesh	Nagaland
Public Debt% of GSDP	14.2	2nd/28	39.9	27th/28	Odisha	Nagaland
Total Liabilities% of GSDP	17.2	2nd/28	45.3	26th/28	Odisha	Arunachal Pradesh
Fiscal Deficit% of GSDP	-1.83	2nd/28	-4.74	22nd/28	Goa	Meghalaya
Salary Bill% of total spending	6.2	1st/28	21.8	18th/28	Gujarat	Nagaland
Interest Payments% of total spending	10.4	18th/28	18.5	28th/28	Odisha	Punjab
Subsidies% of total spending	9.8	21st/28	13.5	25th/28	Arunachal Pradesh	Karnataka

Rank 1 is best on that measure, across all 28 states the CAG reports on. For revenue balance and fiscal deficit a higher number is better, because a smaller deficit is a less negative one; for the rest, lower is better.

State	Revenue Balance% of GSDP	Borrowing That Plugs The Deficit% of net borrowing	Capital Built Per ₹1 Borrowedpaise of capex per ₹1 of net borrowing	Committed Expendituresalaries + pensions + interest	Public Debt% of GSDP	Total Liabilities% of GSDP	Fiscal Deficit% of GSDP	Salary Bill% of total spending	Interest Payments% of total spending	Subsidies% of total spending
Odisha	+2.54	0	191	28.1	10.2	15.8	-2.81	15.2	2.5	4.4
Gujarat	+0.71	0	312	26.6	14.2	17.2	-1.83	6.2	10.4	9.8
Maharashtra	-0.66	29	93	24.7	15.7	19.4	-2.74	8.5	8.8	9.2
Karnataka	-0.72	27	82	26.0	18.3	23.5	-2.95	6.6	10.5	14.0
Uttarakhand hill state	+0.39	0	110	47.4	20.4	25.0	-2.72	24.6	9.0	1.1
Jharkhand	+1.53	0	1,529	29.6	16.5	25.3	-2.81	15.5	5.4	7.2
Assam hill state	-0.47	13	112	46.9	23.3	26.8	-4.43	24.6	7.5	0.8
Uttar Pradesh	+1.99	0	349	32.2	23.2	26.9	-2.09	11.7	9.0	5.0
Chhattisgarh	-0.90	23	90	32.8	23.0	27.0	-4.48	20.8	6.1	11.3
Telangana	-0.57	20	88	34.7	23.9	27.3	-2.98	14.2	12.7	7.1
Tamil Nadu	-1.47	44	56	45.8	25.6	27.5	-3.25	19.9	15.4	13.6
Tripura hill state	+1.77	0	262	45.5	17.5	27.5	-3.48	26.3	5.7	0.8
Haryana	-1.60	63	50	49.0	26.7	30.4	-2.86	21.6	17.1	8.2
Madhya Pradesh	+0.10	0	111	32.3	26.6	31.2	-4.28	16.0	8.1	13.7
Goa	+2.67	0	267	40.2	26.6	31.7	-1.66	19.8	9.0	2.8
Sikkim hill state	+0.90	0	103	45.4	30.7	35.4	-5.59	26.9	7.5	0.2
Andhra Pradesh	-3.78	77	27	41.0	31.1	35.7	-5.09	17.0	13.2	9.9
Kerala	-2.49	74	43	55.8	25.1	36.0	-3.86	23.0	16.8	1.1
Rajasthan	-2.46	71	52	46.0	29.5	37.6	-4.25	23.5	12.8	11.3
Bihar	-0.04	1	93	32.4	31.9	37.7	-4.16	14.8	7.6	7.1
Mizoram hill state	-0.06	1	87	47.5	28.8	38.2	-5.25	25.1	5.0	1.4
West Bengal hill state	-2.19	67	38	34.7	33.7	38.7	-3.41	8.8	16.5	7.0
Manipur hill state	+2.21	0	124	53.3	32.2	41.4	-4.16	29.1	5.6	1.9
Himachal Pradesh hill state	-2.94	80	71	59.9	32.6	44.6	-5.44	28.6	11.7	3.5
Meghalaya hill state	+0.12	0	112	33.5	36.6	44.7	-8.69	19.5	5.5	0.6
Punjab	-3.88	95	21	55.5	39.9	45.3	-4.74	21.8	18.5	13.5
Nagaland hill state	+1.67	0	126	60.6	41.5	46.4	-6.14	37.4	6.2	0.2
Arunachal Pradesh hill state	+19.44	0	318	23.2	38.8	52.8	-3.39	13.6	2.8	0.0

All 28 states, ordered by total liabilities as a share of GSDP — best at the top. A caution carried from the matrix: the states marked hill state are Himalayan and north-eastern states, most of them small and heavily centre-funded, so their ratios can look unusually strong against much larger economies. Source: Comptroller & Auditor General of India — State Finances 2024-25 (Tables 5.2, 5.3, 6.1 & Figures 4.2–4.6). GSDP at current prices.