Union govt liabilities rose due to rise in public debt in FY25: CAG

New Delhi: The Union government’s overall liabilities rose in FY25, driven primarily by higher public debt, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said in a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday. Internal and external debt grew by 8.35 per cent and 9.83 per cent, respectively against FY24. Internal debt stood at Rs 1,59,25,949 crore at the end of FY25, with market borrowings accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the total.

Capital expenditure as a share of GDP declined marginally to 2.70 per cent in FY25 from 2.78 per cent in FY24. Debt repayment remained the largest expenditure head, accounting for 62.57 per cent of total outgo from the Consolidated Fund of India.

The report highlighted an improvement in fiscal indicators. Revenue deficit fell 26.24 per cent year-on-year to 1.78 per cent of GDP, while fiscal deficit declined 8.27 per cent to 4.62 per cent, reflecting bet-ter control over spending and steady revenue growth.

However, the auditor flagged several accounting irregularities. Discrepancies were found in the Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme, including incorrect booking of transac-tions and variations between records maintained by different offices.

The CAG also noted misclassification of Rs 12,754.47 crore, including Rs 4,011.91 crore in receipts and Rs 8,742.56 crore in expenditure, largely due to incorrect booking under object heads. Instances of dou-ble accounting related to the Ministry of Railways were also observed. Further, supplementary provisions under 16 grants were found unnecessary as final expenditure re-mained below initial allocations.

Injudicious re-appropriations exceeding Rs 10 crore were also identified across multiple grants, leading to avoidable excess expenditure in some cases and highlighting gaps in budgetary management.