Punjab using stronger reserves to secure softer borrowing: Cheema

Chandigarh: Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday said the state was leveraging stronger financial reserves and tighter treasury controls to improve borrowing terms, while asserting that the AAP govt's welfare commitments would continue alongside efforts to stabilise public finances.Presenting what he described as a four-year account of Punjab's "fiscal recovery", Cheema said the state had significantly strengthened its Consolidated Sinking Fund (CSF) and Guarantee Redemption Fund (GRF) to build a financial cushion.He said the CSF had risen from Rs 2,980 crore under the previous Congress govt to Rs 10,738 crore as of December 2025, while the GRF, which earlier had no balance, had grown to Rs 990 crore.According to Cheema, the stronger reserve position enabled Punjab to secure a Rs 6,000-crore soft borrowing limit, while the state also availed Rs 8,900 crore in short-term loans over the last four years. He said the state had also gained access to a credit line at rates 2 percentage points below the repo rate.Cheema said the govt had introduced the e-Deposit Management System (EDMS) in 2022 to prevent treasury-related irregularities and improve oversight of public deposits. He said the move was aimed at avoiding the kind of financial frauds seen elsewhere, including the recent Rs 645-crore fraud involving Haryana govt funds at a private bank in Chandigarh.He said the private bank associated with Punjab had already reconciled 95% of its accounts.‘CONG INHERITED SHUT TREASURY'Cheema stated that the previous Congress govt inherited a shut treasury in March 2017 as the outgoing SAD-BJP govt defaulted on the overdraft, and state treasury operations were suspended and taken over by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).‘OPS STILL UNDER CONSIDERATION'Replying to a query regarding the old pension scheme (OPS), finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema stated that the matter is currently under review following the Centre's introduction of the Unified Pension System (UPS). He noted that two dedicated committees — one headed by himself and another by the chief secretary — are actively working to identify a viable solution to the issue.