Fiscal Status of Haryana: An Analysis

Deficits determine the fiscal health and financial strength of any economy or state. This paper attempts to highlight the various fiscal indicators of Centre and Haryana state government and examine the significance of expenditure and public debt on fiscal deficit of Haryana ranging the time period from 2004-05 to 2016-17. To fulfil the above said objectives, secondary data has been collected from various Statistical Abstracts of Haryana; Department of Economic & Statistical Analysis, Haryana; Economic Survey of Haryana; Central Statistics Office, India; and Trading Economics as well. In order to satisfy the objectives, the study used simple descriptive tools like Least Square Growth Rate, Coefficient of Variation (C.V.) for estimating the instability among the data. The study revealed a higher value of C.V. for borrowings which indicates that government borrows more to repay the old debts. Increment in government borrowings is mainly due to increase in non-plan expenditure as well as social infrastructure; which is not a positive sign since it ultimately results in rise in government fiscal deficit. Hence, need of the hour is to reduce public expenditure, cut down the subsidies, improve tax structure and reduce interest payments on past debt.