The story so far: Over the past few months, Kerala’s mounting debt liabilities have been brought into sharp focus with the Reserve Bank of India, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) flagging the issue.
The State’s financial situation was recently highlighted by Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal in his sharp response against a slew of Central financial policies: cutting the fiscal deficit grant by ₹7,000 crore; discontinuation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation worth around ₹12,000 crore; and a proposed move to consider the “off-budget” borrowings of State government entities such as the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and Kerala Social Security Pension Ltd (KSSPL) as part of the State debt when fixing the State’s net borrowing ceiling.
