Govt.’s outstanding guarantees at 2024-25 end ₹21,000 crore more than FY beginning, says CAG report

The total outstanding guarantees given by the State government stood at ₹2.41 lakh crore at the end of financial year 2024-25.

This is ₹21,000 crore higher than ₹2.2 lakh crore at the beginning of the financial year with guarantees worth ₹57,304 crore added and another ₹36,999 crore deleted (repaid) during the year. Of these, a major chunk of the guarantees were given to the Irrigation department which accounted for ₹81,763 crore, including an addition of ₹1,388 crore and deletion of ₹2,165 crore. Guarantees to power sector too were on the higher side at ₹47,578 crore, with an addition of ₹11,921 crore to the previous year’s ₹40,640 crore and deletion of ₹4,983 crore.

Guarantees to Urban Development and Housing schemes constituted ₹13,573 crore, with addition of ₹782 crore and deletion of ₹1,300 crore, while those for other infrastructure works amounted to ₹10,671 crore, including ₹10,380 crore guarantees given during the fiscal.

The government gave guarantees to the tune of ₹77,670 crore till the end of February 2025 for other works, with addition of ₹25,737 crore while guarantees worth ₹21,979 crore were repaid during the year, according to the Finance Accounts 2024-25 audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Monday (March 30).

The CAG said the statement was compiled based on the budget document of 2025-26, as the government had provided neither the maximum amount guaranteed nor the segregation of principal and interest components in respect of outstandings. “Hence, compliance with requirements of IGAS-1 remains deficient,” the CAG said.

While details of guarantees invoked during the year and those discharged were not provided by the government, opening balance for the year 2024-25 differed with the closing balance for the year 2023-24 for which the reason was not intimated by the government. The figure included outstanding loans to the extent of ₹1.17 lakh crore as on February 28, 2025 raised by the special purpose vehicles/corporations/institutions but serviced by the government.