Odisha tops the First Fiscal Health Index of the NITI Aayog

Odisha has topped the inaugural edition of the NITI Aayog's Fiscal Health Index (FHI) 2025.

The report compiled by the NITI Aayog was released in New Delhi on 24 January 2025 by the  Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, Dr. Arvind Panagariya in the presence of Suman Bery, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of the NITI Aayog.

The NITI Aayog report assesses the fiscal health of 18 major states of India as per the 2022-23 fiscal year, identifies areas for improvement, and promotes best practices across these states.

The report objectively evaluates each state's fiscal health through a composite index facilitating comparison and benchmarking against best practices.

Composition of the NITI Aayog's Fiscal Health Index 2025

The Index includes 18 major states of India which contribute to around two-thirds of public expenditure and one-third of total revenue in the country.

The Index takes into account the performance of the state based on the 2022-23 fiscal year.

The Fiscal Health index includes five major sub-indices -

• Quality of Expenditure,
• Revenue Mobilisation,
• Fiscal Prudence, 
• Debt Index, and
• Debt Sustainability

There are nine minor sub-indices classified in the Deprivation Index and Improvement Index.

State Segregated in four Groups based on their Performance 

The Fiscal Health Index segregated the 18 states into four groups of Achiever, Frontrunner, Performer, and Aspirational on the basis of their performance in 2022-23.

• Achiever States (1-5 rank)- Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand and Gujarat
• Frontrunner (6-10 rank)-Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka.
• Performer (11-14 rank)- Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana
• Aspirational(15-18 rank)- Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.

List of the State and its place in Fiscal Health Index 2025

Following is the list of the states and their score on the Fiscal Health Index 2025.

Source NITI Aayog

About the NITI Aayog

The National Institution for Transforming India(NITI) Aayog was set up by the government of India through an executive order.

It came into existence on 1 January 2015, replacing the Planning Commission.

The Prime Minister is the chairman of the NITI Aayog.

Vice Chairman- Suman Bery

Chief Executive Officer- BVR Subrahmanyam