STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Assam had total outstanding liabilities of Rs 94,711.99 crore as of March 31, 2022. Finance Minister Ajanta Neog informed the House of this in her written reply to independent MLA Akhil Gogoi today.
She said that this loan amount is 22.95 percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the state. According to her, in the Financial Year 2020–21, the government repaid Rs 8768.72 crore (Rs 3569.54 crore in principal and Rs 5199.18 crore in interest) and Rs 11228.97 crore in 2021–22 (Rs 5177.50 crore in principal and Rs 6051.47 crore in interest).
She said that the loan amount that a state can take depends on its GDP. She said that the State government took the loan within its limits. The GDP of the state has gone up, and so has the scope of taking more loans, she said.
She said that tax collection has gone up in five sectors: tax revenue by 14 percent, transport tax by 35 percent, land revenue and registration by 59 percent, mines and minerals by 69 percent, and forest by 11 percent in 2021–22 compared to 2020–21. Only the collection of excise tax has gone down by five percent, she added.
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