₹4.28 trillion. But not all states saw much relief in it. Only the first half percentage point worth of extra debt allowed was unconditional.
For states to borrow more than 3.5% of SGDP, they had to achieve a set of reform conditions. These ranged from action on the government’s “one nation one ration card" proposal to complex initiatives in the power sector.
Conceived as incentives for the states to perform better, these also meant that too few of them would be able to get the finance needed to pursue near-term goals related to the covid crisis.
Since the Centre seems unable to keep its GSP promise, it should now allow states to borrow freely. For this, pre-conditions on their debt expansion would have to be dropped right away.
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