India Government Debt

What India owes — all of it.

Debt-to-GDP since 1991, the Union fiscal deficit month by month, and the difference between the number headlines quote and the number that counts the states. IMF, World Bank and CGA published data only.

Debt-to-GDP

84.1%

2025 · general govt · -0.7 pp YoY

Peak

90.6%

2020 · COVID year

2031 Projection

77.7%

IMF WEO projection

Fiscal Deficit

₹12.53L

Apr-Feb · FY26 · cumulative · -7.0% YoY

Revenue Deficit

₹3.89L

Apr-Feb · FY26 · cumulative

Primary Deficit

₹1.87L

Apr-Feb · FY26 · cumulative

General Government Debt, % of GDP (1991–2031)

Full story →

Centre + states combined (IMF WEO) IMF projections

Peak 90.6% in 2020; IMF projects 77.7% by 2031. Values as published — years from the WEO publication year onward are IMF projections, drawn dashed.

Union Fiscal Deficit — Cumulative by Month (₹ lakh crore)

Latest: Feb 2026

FY26 (to date) FY25 FY24 FY23

Source: CGA Union Government monthly accounts, cumulative within each fiscal year (April–March). The fiscal deficit is financed by borrowing — this line is, in effect, the year's new debt being issued.

Union Government Accounts — Apr to Feb 2026

Indicator	FY26 (cumulative)	FY25 same period	YoY
Total Receipts	₹27.92 lakh cr	₹25.46 lakh cr	+9.6%
Revenue Receipts	₹27.26 lakh cr	₹25.09 lakh cr	+8.7%
Gross Tax Revenue	₹34.20 lakh cr	₹32.04 lakh cr	+6.7%
Net Tax Revenue (Centre)	₹21.45 lakh cr	₹20.16 lakh cr	+6.4%
Non-Tax Revenue	₹5.81 lakh cr	₹4.93 lakh cr	+17.8%
Non-Debt Capital Receipts	₹0.66 lakh cr	₹0.37 lakh cr	+75.4%
Total Expenditure	₹40.45 lakh cr	₹38.93 lakh cr	+3.9%
Other Revenue Expenditure	₹7.72 lakh cr	₹7.91 lakh cr	-2.5%
Fiscal Deficit	₹12.53 lakh cr	₹13.47 lakh cr	-7.0%
Revenue Deficit	₹3.89 lakh cr	₹5.72 lakh cr	-32.1%
Effective Revenue Deficit	₹1.69 lakh cr	₹3.38 lakh cr	-50.2%
Primary Deficit	₹1.87 lakh cr	₹3.94 lakh cr	-52.5%

Values as filed by the Controller General of Accounts (cga.nic.in), cumulative from April 1. YoY compares the same cumulative window of the prior fiscal year. Deficit lines are shortfalls, not balances.

Fiscal Position — FY26 vs FY25

Fiscal Deficit (Apr–Feb)-7.0%

Total Receipts+9.6%

Gross Tax Revenue+6.7%

Total Expenditure+3.9%

Fiscal Reading

Through Feb 2026, the FY26 deficit is running 7.0% below FY25 at the same point, with receipts growing 9.6% against 3.9% expenditure growth. Computed from CGA filed values.

The Three Numbers

Explained →

46.5% Centre only — the figure headlines usually quote (World Bank, 2018)

84.1% Centre + states — general government, the cross-country standard (IMF, 2025)

> that Everything backed — off-budget borrowings and guarantees sit outside both series; no consolidated figure is published

Key Terms

Fiscal DeficitGap between total expenditure and non-borrowed receipts — the year's borrowing requirement.

Revenue DeficitShortfall of revenue receipts against revenue (day-to-day) expenditure alone.

Primary DeficitFiscal deficit minus interest payments — new borrowing not caused by past borrowing.

General GovernmentCentre and states combined; the IMF's cross-country standard measure.

Debt-to-GDPDebt stock as a share of one year's output — scale, not a repayment schedule.

Frequently Asked

Why are there two debt-to-GDP numbers?

The smaller one counts only the central government. States borrow too — through State Development Loans — and adding them gave a gap of 25.2 percentage points of GDP in 2018, the last year both series overlap.

Are the 2031 figures real data?

No — years from the WEO publication year onward are IMF projections (World Economic Outlook (April 2026)), shown dashed on the charts. Projections get revised.

Is the fiscal deficit the same as new debt?

Broadly, yes: the deficit is financed by borrowing, mostly through the same G-Secs and T-Bills that trade in the bond market.

What do these figures leave out?

Off-budget borrowings, PSU debt and government guarantees sit outside both series. No source in our archive publishes a consolidated series for them, so we don't show a number.

Sources & Vintages

Methodology →

IMF WEO(April 2026)

World Bank WDIthrough 2018

CGA monthly accountsFeb 2026

IMF reports India on a fiscal-year basis under the FY's starting year. The World Bank central-govt series ends where the source stops publishing. Missing values show "—", never estimates.

Learn & Research

How much debt does India really have?Centre vs general government, and what both leave out Sovereign Yield CurveWhere the market prices this borrowing, 3M–40Y G-Sec vs SDL vs T-BillThe instruments the deficit is financed with

Disclaimer: This dashboard aggregates macroeconomic data published by the IMF, World Bank and the Controller General of Accounts for informational purposes only. Year-on-year figures are simple arithmetic on the published values. Figures for future years are the IMF's projections, not ours. Nothing here is investment advice or a view on Government of India securities.