Bhubaneswar: BJD President Naveen Patnaik on Thursday expressed satisfaction after Odisha secured the top position in the Fiscal Health Index for 2023-24 released by NITI Aayog.
In a post on X, Patnaik said the State achieved the No.1 rank with a score of 73.1, significantly ahead of the second-ranked state, which scored 54. He said the ranking reflects Odisha’s strong fiscal management.
Patnaik noted that the State has come a long way from a near-bankruptcy situation in 2000 to become a top performer on several fiscal parameters. He said the transformation reflects vision and governance based on the 5T framework.
Highlighting the state’s fiscal performance, he said Odisha recorded strong outcomes in areas such as quality of expenditure, revenue mobilisation, fiscal prudence, and reduction of loan burden, emerging as an example among states.
The former chief minister said the state’s stable fiscal position enabled it to implement several people-centric initiatives. These include schemes like Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, KALIA Scheme, and Mission Shakti, along with programmes in skill development, school transformation, tribal development, disaster management, irrigation, and infrastructure development.
Patnaik also thanked the people of Odisha for supporting the state’s development journey and said the government was able to fund several welfare programmes without waiting for financial assistance from the Centre.
However, he expressed concern over the financial management of the current “double-engine government” in the state. He warned that mismanagement of finances could push Odisha towards fiscal distress and affect the development momentum built over the past two decades.
