SHILLONG : Meghalaya’s government liabilities have very nearly doubled in five years, climbing to ₹26,601 crore in 2024-25, with the Comptroller and Auditor General flagging a widening gap between how fast the state is racking up debt and how fast its economy is actually growing.
The latest State Finances Audit Report puts overall liabilities at ₹13,618.73 crore in 2020-21, rising to ₹26,601.45 crore by 2024-25, a jump of 95.33 percent over five years. That climb accelerated sharply in the final year alone, liabilities grew 23.61 percent in 2024-25, while Meghalaya’s GSDP at current prices managed only 12.03 percent growth over the same period.
The debt-to-GSDP ratio consequently rose to 44.61 percent, up from 40.43 percent a year prior, and the CAG noted debt growth had outpaced nominal GSDP growth in most years across the full five-year stretch, a pattern that points to mounting strain on the state’s finances.
The five-year liability climb:
- 2020-21: ₹13,618.73 crore
- 2024-25: ₹26,601.45 crore
- Total increase: 95.33%
- Debt-to-GSDP ratio: 44.61% (up from 40.43% the year before)
One number in the report explains exactly where that strain is coming from. In 2024-25, a full 72.51 percent of everything Meghalaya borrowed went straight into repaying earlier borrowings, leaving only a thin slice as genuine net borrowing available for anything new. Back in 2020-21, that repayment share stood at just 42.91 percent.
The state is increasingly borrowing simply to service what it already owes, which squeezes out the fresh money that would otherwise go toward infrastructure, asset creation and other productive spending.
The overall liability figure does deserve one caveat though: it includes ₹5,192.91 crore in 50-year interest-free loans from the Centre under the Special Assistance for Capital Investment scheme, money earmarked for capital expenditure that doesn’t carry the same interest burden as ordinary market borrowing. Even accounting for that softer component, Meghalaya’s total liabilities still sit above the ceiling set under the state’s own fiscal responsibility framework.
The fiscal deficit tells the same story from a different angle:
- 2023-24 deficit: ₹3,152 crore
- 2024-25 deficit: ₹5,184 crore
- 2024-25 deficit as % of GSDP: 8.69%
- Statutory target: 3.83% of GSDP
More than double what the state’s own rules allow, and it happened despite the economy actually performing well: GSDP at current prices rose to ₹59,626 crore, up 12.03 percent for the year. That growth simply never made it into government coffers, revenue receipts actually fell 4.58 percent during the same period.
Underneath all of this sits a structural dependency problem. Close to 77 percent of Meghalaya’s revenue receipts come through central transfers, tax devolution and grants combined, leaving the state with a genuinely narrow base of its own revenue to fund government spending.
The CAG has also flagged Meghalaya’s comparatively low per-capita income:
- Meghalaya per-capita income (2024-25): ₹1,57,141
- National average: ₹2,05,324
- Gap: more than 26% below the national average
It’s worth being clear about what this data does and doesn’t mean
The CAG hasn’t said Meghalaya is staring down an imminent default, the state still has real economic growth, continued central support, and access to long-term capital loans. What’s actually being flagged is the direction things are heading: debt expanding faster than the economy underneath it, with more and more of each year’s fresh borrowing simply going toward paying off what came before.
The scale of that becomes clearer looking at the raw numbers:
- Total debt repayment (2024-25): ₹11,171 crore
- Total borrowings (2024-25): ₹15,864 crore
- Share of borrowing consumed by repayment: roughly 70%
Borrow that much, and repay nearly three-quarters of it right back, and the room left over for genuinely new development shrinks fast.
Beyond the debt figures themselves, the CAG has also raised separate concerns about how the state actually spends what it has, pointing to weaknesses in budget execution, spending that went beyond what the legislature had authorised, and gaps in financial reporting more broadly.
The CAG’s numbers lay the core tension out plainly: Meghalaya’s economy is growing, but its liabilities are growing considerably faster.
