Debt-To-GSDP Ratio Down 4% To 44.47% Under AAP Government: Punjab Minister

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday said the AAP government has brought down the debt-to-GSDP ratio by four percentage points to 44.47 per cent and also claimed that it was spending 85 per cent of borrowings on servicing old debt raised by previous SAD-BJP and Congress regimes.

Cheema junked claims of opposition parties who have been targeting the AAP over the rising state debt and blamed previous governments for pushing the state into the "debt trap".

The FM was speaking to reporters here while highlighting achievements of his department as the AAP government completes four years in office on March 16.

Cheema said under the leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Punjab has emerged among the top-three states in the country for remarkable achievements in revenue growth, asserting that the state's financial performance over the past four years reflects structural reform, fiscal discipline and administrative transparency.

Comparing the goods and services tax (GST) collections of the AAP government in the past four years with that of the erstwhile Congress regime, Cheema said the state government mobilised tax revenue to the tune of Rs 83,739 crore in the past four years.

He said when the Congress was in power in the state, GST collections were Rs 61,286 crore in five years.

Cheema further said his department mobilised excise revenue to the tune of Rs 37,975 crore in the past four years.

However, during the SAD-BJP and the Congress regimes, the excise revenue stood at Rs 20,545 crore and Rs 27,395 crore, respectively.

On the issue of outstanding debt, Cheema said when the AAP came to power in 2022, the outstanding debt was Rs 3 lakh crore left by the previous SAD-BJP and Congress governments.

"By servicing that debt, we have returned 35 per cent of the principal amount and 50 per cent of interest. Of the borrowings we took, 85 per cent was spent on servicing the old debt," Cheema said.

Less than 15 per cent of the borrowed funds are actually available for the AAP government to use for the state, he added.

However, he said the AAP government brought down the debt-to gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 44.47 per cent from 48.25 per cent in 2022.

It is a big achievement of the state government, he noted.

Replying to a question, Cheema said Punjab was in a "debt trap" when the SAD-BJP and the Congress were in power.

"We have reduced it (debt-to-GSDP) by 4 per cent," said the FM.

He further said Punjab's own tax revenue has surged significantly, rising from Rs 37,327 crore, which was 6.39 per cent of the gross state domestic product in 2021-22, to an impressive Rs 57,919 crore, accounting for 7.15 per cent of the GSDP in 2024-25.

Turning to land and property registrations, Cheema said revenue from stamp duty has also witnessed a historic rise.

He said, "During the Congress tenure 2017-22, stamp duty collections saw an increase of less than one percent compared to the preceding Akali Dal government 2012-17.

"The SAD-BJP government collected a total of Rs 12,387 crore averaging Rs 2,477 crore annually, while the Congress managed only Rs 12,469 crore averaging Rs 2,494 crore annually." "Conversely, the AAP administration has generated Rs 19,515 crore by January 2026, with an annual average of Rs 5,091 crore. This indicates that in just four years, the AAP government collected 60 percent more stamp duty than the five-year terms of previous governments.

"At this accelerated pace, the revenue is expected to double the Congress era's total by the 2026-27 financial year." Cheema said, "The AAP government has allocated Rs 7,000-8,000 crore for implementing the Pay Commission and clearing Rs 14,191 crore in Pay Commission arrears pending from 2016 to 2021.

"Furthermore, Rs 2,566 crore was spent to bail out financially distressed state entities like Punsup, land mortgage bank, PSIDC, and the Mandi Board." He further said the government paid Rs 1,750 crore to clear arrears of central schemes left unpaid by the previous Congress government.

The AAP government has made investments in the Consolidated Sinking Fund and Guarantee Redemption Fund maintained with the RBI.

"As of March 31, 2022, the state had only Rs 3,027 crore in the consolidated sinking fund and nothing in the Guarantee Redemption Fund. By December 2025, these reserves have swelled to Rs 10,738 crore in the consolidated sinking fund and Rs 982 crore in the guarantee redemption fund, bringing the total to Rs 11,720 crore." 

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