India's debt increased by 181% in 9 years - ₹ 155 lakh crore debt on Indian government in 2023?

Debt On India: 'The 14 Prime Ministers of the country together took a total loan of Rs 55 lakh crore in 67 years. In the last 9 years, PM Narendra Modi has tripled the debt of India. He took a loan of more than 100 lakh crore rupees in just 9 years. In 2014, the total debt on the government was Rs 55 lakh crore, which has now increased to Rs 155 lakh crore. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate has said this on June 10. Since then, the discussion about the debt of the Government of India has intensified. We have investigated Congress's claim with the help of Budget 2023, Economic Survey and Finance Minister's answer in Parliament.

Today we will know how much is the total debt of the Government of India, how many loans did the Modi government take in the last 9 years and where is this money being spent?

Question 1: What is the total debt on the Government of India?

Answer: How much debt is there on the Government of India, this thing has been told by the Central Government on the official website of the budget. According to the central government, till March 31, 2023, the Indian government has a debt of Rs 155 lakh crore. By March next year, it can increase to Rs 172 lakh crore.

Apart from this, on March 20, 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given a written answer to a question of MP Nageswara Rao. MP Nageswara Rao asked a question about government debt. In response to this, Finance Minister Sitharaman also said that till March 31, 2023, the Government of India has a debt of Rs 155 lakh crore.

According to this, the debt of the country has increased by 181% in the last 9 years.

Question 2: How much debt was there on the Government of India in 2004 and how has it increased year after year?

Answer: When Manmohan Singh's government was formed in 2004, the total debt on the Government of India was Rs 17 lakh crore. By 2014, it increased more than three times to Rs 55 lakh crore. At present, the total debt on the Government of India is Rs 155 lakh crore.

Question 3: How much debt has increased on every person in India in 9 years?

Answer: According to the financial year 2014-15, then the total debt on the Government of India was 55 lakh crore rupees. If the total population of the country is assumed to be 130 crores in 2014, then the average debt of every Indian at that time was about 42 thousand rupees.

Now in 2023, the total debt on the Government of India has increased to Rs 155 lakh crore. Assuming the total population of India is 140 crores, then in today's time every Indian has a debt of more than 1 lakh rupees.

Similarly, now if we talk about foreign debt, India's foreign debt in 2014-15 was Rs 31 lakh crore. Now in 2023, India's foreign debt has increased to Rs 50 lakh crore.

Question 4: Is the UPA government or the NDA government ahead in terms of taking foreign loans in 9 years?

Answer: Before forming the government in 2014, the BJP had promised the public that it would reduce the debt of the Government of India, but in the last 9 years the debt of the country has increased instead of decreasing.

Since 2014, the Modi government has taken a total loan of Rs 19 lakh crore from abroad, whereas in the nine years from 2005 to 2013, the UPA government took a foreign loan of about Rs 21 lakh crore. In 2005, the country's foreign debt was 10 lakh crores, which increased to 31 lakh crores in 2013. Means, foreign debt increased by Rs 21 lakh crore in 9 years.

From 2014 to 2022, the foreign debt increased from Rs 33 lakh crore to Rs 50 lakh crore, that is, in these 9 years, the foreign debt increased by Rs 19 lakh crore. One thing is clear from this that after 2014, the debt of the country has not reduced in the NDA government.

Question 5: Due to what reasons the debt increases on the government of a country?

Answer: Economist Arun Kumar has told in an interview that the government's debt depends on two things...

1. What is the income of the government.

2. What is the expenditure of the government.

If the expenditure is more than the income, then the government has to take a loan. As soon as the government takes a loan, it increases the revenue deficit. This means that the expenditure of the government is more than the revenue earned. Usually the revenue deficit is high when the government spends the loan money where the return does not come.

Question 6: Where does the Government of India spend so much money by taking loans?

Answer: Since the Corona epidemic in 2020, the Government of India is giving many types of subsidies. As...

1. Free food grains to 80 crore people every month

2. Free gas cylinders to about 10 crore women under the Ujjwala scheme

3. 6 thousand rupees annually to about 9 crore farmers

4. Financial assistance in building houses for two crore people under PM Awas Yojana

Economist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta says in an interview that after coming to power in 2014, the Modi government has launched several freebies schemes. To give free things to the people, the government borrows money. The fiscal deficit of the country increases due to subsidy, defense and other similar government expenditure.

Question 7: What is the relation between debt and inflation on the country?

Answer: One question that arises in everyone's mind is whether the increase in the debt of the country leads to inflation. In this case, according to Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist of Care Rating Agency, 'There is no direct relation with inflation in increasing debt on the country. The government uses the loan money to raise income. When the loan money comes in the market, it increases the revenue of the government.

Along with this, he said that if the loan money is misused, inflation can also increase. For example, if the money is distributed among the common people after taking a loan, then people will start buying more things. This will increase the demand for things in the market. If the supply is not right after the increase in demand, then the price of things will increase.

At the same time, another economist Suvrokmal Datta believes that taking loans is not always bad for a country. India's economy has become more than 3 trillion. According to this, the debt of Rs 155 lakh crore is not much. The government spends this money on running trains like Vande Bharat, building roads and airports, which are essential for the development of the country.

Question 8: Who are the countries taking the most debt in the world?

Answer: Countries like Japan are among the largest borrowers in the world. The world's most powerful country America is also ahead of India in terms of taking loans.

Debt-ridden America is days away from bankruptcy. President Joe Biden is so confused that he canceled his May 24 visit to Australia, where the quad meeting was to be held. He had reached Hiroshima, Japan to participate in the G-7 summit. At the same time, the heads of the four nations together held a meeting of the Quad.

In such a situation, there are 3 big questions. First- After all, how did the world's most powerful country and the world's largest economy get stuck in such a huge debt? Second- What is Biden trying to do that he had to cancel his tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea? Third- If America defaults on debt, what will be its effect on other countries like India?