SHILLONG – Meghalaya’s public finances have improved enough to place the state fourth among 10 Northeastern and Himalayan states in NITI Aayog’s latest Fiscal Health Index, yet the same assessment exposes a genuine soft spot: the state remains stuck in the “Aspirational” category when it comes to actual fiscal discipline.
Meghalaya scored 41.5 points in the Fiscal Health Index 2026, covering financial year 2023-24, ranking fourth in its peer group behind Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tripura, and earning an overall classification of “Performer.” Meghalaya scored 66.6 on Quality of Expenditure, easily its best-performing metric, and 57.8 on the Debt Index. Revenue mobilisation fell considerably short at 38.2, and Debt Sustainability came in even lower at 31.9.
Fiscal prudence is where the report card really falls apart. Meghalaya scored just 12.8 on this measure, eighth among the ten states assessed, placing it in the Aspirational bracket alongside Assam, Sikkim, Manipur and Himachal Pradesh, a sharp comedown from how strongly the state performs on expenditure quality and debt management. Spend well, manage debt reasonably, but discipline itself remains the weak point, and that gap is exactly what keeps Meghalaya from climbing higher on the overall index despite genuine strengths elsewhere.
The trajectory does show real improvement over time. Meghalaya scored 28.0 and ranked fourth in the 2020-21 to 2022-23 assessment period, up from 28.9 and sixth place in 2017-18 to 2019-20. By the latest 2023-24 assessment, the score jumped to 41.5, holding steady at fourth place within its peer group.
Arunachal Pradesh topped the Northeastern and Himalayan category outright at 59.5, followed by Uttarakhand at 52.5 and Tripura at 44.1, with Meghalaya’s 41.5 comfortably ahead of Assam’s 39.1.
NITI Aayog’s own assessment credits Meghalaya’s strong expenditure quality and favourable debt profile as the main reasons it retains its Performer status overall, while flagging weak fiscal prudence as the clear area demanding attention.
The index itself evaluates state finances across five measures, quality of expenditure, revenue mobilisation, fiscal prudence, debt index and debt sustainability, designed specifically to help states gauge fiscal soundness and pinpoint where policy reform is actually needed. This second annual edition of the Fiscal Health Index was released in March 2026, built on 2023-24 financial data.
What Meghalaya’s report card ultimately shows is a state that spends well and manages its existing debt reasonably, but hasn’t yet built the fiscal discipline to match, a gap wide enough that the state’s own strong points can’t fully cover for it.
