Gujarat's investment strategy: borrow at 6.75%, invest at 0.56%, lose money on every transaction, and make it up on volume. Also, 204 projects worth ₹16,402 crore remain incomplete, but the paperwork is immaculate.
A CAG audit of Gujarat's finances reads like a masterclass in how to spend money without accomplishing anything. The state left ₹45,154 crore — 13.5% of its entire budget — unspent, while simultaneously running a deficit of ₹24,869 crore. It parked ₹21,845 crore of central funds outside the state budget entirely, apparently to avoid the inconvenience of parliamentary oversight. Investment returns clocked in at 0.56% against 6.75% borrowing costs, meaning Gujarat was actively paying money for the privilege of losing money. Of 2,350 Anganwadis announced for women and children, exactly 210 were built — a 9% completion rate that would get you fired from any job except, evidently, running a state government. Meanwhile, 183 cases of fund misappropriation sit unresolved, presumably in a filing cabinet next to the 204 incomplete projects worth ₹16,402 crore.