India needs to curb a borrowing spree by its state governments
Savings in the central-government budget are more than offset by splurging by the states
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20170513_FNP001_0.jpg)
WHICH Indian state sounds more likely to repay a loan: Bihar, the country’s poorest, with a budget deficit of nearly 6% of its state GDP last year and a hole in its finances after it banned alcohol sales; or Gujarat, a relatively prosperous coastal region with a deficit nearer to 2%? According to bond markets at least, both are equally good credits, and so pay the same interest rate. As welcome as such mispricing might be to the Bihari authorities, it is brewing trouble for the rest of the Indian economy.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Pumping the country dry”
Finance & economics May 13th 2017
- India needs to curb a borrowing spree by its state governments
- The investment- management industry faces a big squeeze
- The EU ponders moving euro clearing from London after Brexit
- Africa’s informal economy is receding faster than Latin America’s
- In China, a TV soap on corruption attracts a mass following
- A new sort of hedge fund relies on crowd-sourcing
- William Baumol, a great economist, died on May 4th
- 2017 Marjorie Deane internship
More from Finance & economics
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240914_FNP501.jpg)
Can anything spark Europe’s economy back to life?
Mario Draghi, the continent’s unofficial chief technocrat, has a plan
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240907_FND003.jpg)
Has social media broken the stockmarket?
That is the contention of Cliff Asness, one of the great quant investors
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240907_FNP504.jpg)
American office delinquencies are shooting up
How worried should investors be?
China is suffering from a crisis of confidence
Can anything perk up its economy?
America has a huge deficit. Which candidate would make it worse?
Enough policies have been proposed to make a call
Why Oasis fans should welcome price-gouging
There are worse things in life than paying a fair price