Jammu, Mar 8: J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday in a written reply in the Legislative Assembly that the UT has a debt of Rs 1.25 lakh crores.

"The total debt of J&K stands at over Rs 1.25 lakh crore including Rs 27,900 crore in the general provident fund (GPF) for the Union Territory in the last financial year," the Chief Minister said.

Omar Abdullah is also the Finance Minister of the UT. He said in a written reply to MLA, Sajad Gani Lone that as of March 31, 2024, Jammu and Kashmir's total debt is Rs 1,25,205 crore.

“This includes Rs 69,894 crore in loans from the Reserve Bank of India, Rs 27,901 crore in GPF, Rs 14,294 crore in reserves, Rs 5,758 crore in outstanding national small savings fund, Rs 4,032 crore in negotiated loans, Rs 2,616 crore in UDAY power loans, and Rs 710 crore in Government of India advances”, the Chief Minister said.

He said the total outstanding liability in treasuries as of February 27, 2025, under various account heads amounts to Rs 5,429.49 crore.

According to the Economic Survey Report (ESR) 2024-25 tabled in the House on Thursday, the outstanding debt of Rs 1,25,205 crore represents 52 per cent of J&K's GSDP of Rs 2,38,677 crore.

The public debt of Rs 83,010 crore constitutes 66 per cent of the total on-budget outstanding debt in FY 2024 including internal debt of Rs 82,300 crore and Rs 710 crore in advances from the Union government.

Another major component of the on-budget outstanding debt is the provident fund, which accounts for 21 per cent of the total debt. The ESR also highlighted that over the past decade, the proportion of internal debt to total on-budget outstanding debt has risen from 55 per cent to 66 per cent, while the share of the provident fund has decreased from 27 per cent to 21 per cent.

The debt as a percentage of GSDP has increased from 47 per cent in FY2014 to 51 per cent in FY2024. J&K has been literally dependent on central aid despite its huge potential in horticulture, tourism, hospitality industry, hydro power and handicrafts.

Due to the inability of the J&K government to construct hydro-electric power projects on various rivers in the UT due to paucity of funds, all major power projects in the UT were constructed by the NHPC. Except for getting royalty by way of electric power, J&K is not able to use the UT’s huge hydro-power potential of 10,000 megawatts.

--IANS

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