politypolicy.com · by Tushar Gupta

India, in Infographics

Punjab: Alarm Bells Across The Board

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

Punjab ranks ahead of 0 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

Nagaland

Himachal Pradesh

Kerala

Mizoram

Sikkim

Andhra Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Assam

Karnataka

Madhya Pradesh

Manipur

Meghalaya

Rajasthan

Tamil Nadu

Tripura

Uttarakhand

Bihar

Chhattisgarh

Goa

Gujarat

Haryana

Jharkhand

Maharashtra

Odisha

Telangana

Uttar Pradesh

West Bengal

Punjab ahead Punjab 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 Gujarat’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 Gujarat beside it, and the best and worst state on each row.

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