TNI Bureau: Replying to a question asked by Rajya Sabha member Dilip Ray, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the Union Budget estimate for the year 2026-27 shows that India’s total public debt will be above ₹218 lakh crore at the end of the present financial year, while the foreign debt will be around ₹9.64 lakh crore according to current foreign exchange rates.

It has been reported that the total debt of the country at the end of the financial year 2025-26 was ₹201.17 lakh crore, out of which foreign debt was ₹9.89 lakh crore. The figures released by the ministry also show a yearly rise in total payments towards principal and interest.

Sources reveal that, the principal payments were recorded at ₹2.62 lakh crore in 2020–21, ₹3 lakh crore in 2021–22, ₹3.53 lakh crore in 2022–23, ₹4.88 lakh crore in 2023–24, ₹4.16 lakh crore in 2024–25, and ₹4.61 lakh crore in 2025–26, with estimates pointing to a jump to ₹6.22 lakh crore for 2026–27.

Correspondingly, interest payments stood at ₹6.80 lakh crore in 2020–21, ₹8.05 lakh crore in 2021–22, ₹9.29 lakh crore in 2022–23, ₹10.64 lakh crore in 2023–24, ₹11.16 lakh crore in 2024–25, and ₹12.43 lakh crore in 2025–26, while the current fiscal year’s interest payout is budgeted at ₹14.04 lakh crore.

Further, in answer to another query from MP Ray, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav stated that one AIIMS satellite center is functioning in Balasore under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. But at the same time, he pointed out that there are currently no new proposals on setting up new satellite centers in the state. This response comes despite persistent demands made for many years by MP Dilip Ray for setting up an AIIMS center in Rourkela for the benefit of the people.