India needs to curb borrowing by profligate state governments

ANY amount of parental scrimping and saving is futile if the children run amok with the family credit card. For years, the government of India has tightened its belt, cutting its annual budget deficit from 5% of GDP in 2013 to nearer 3% now. But its parsimony has been matched by the profligacy of India’s 29 states. They have spent nearly all the money saved, leaving the country’s public finances no better off.