Tripura has emerged as one of the better-performing states in the Northeast in the Fiscal Health Index (FHI) 2026 for the financial year 2023–24, released by the government think tank NITI Aayog on Wednesday. The report highlights the state’s relatively strong fiscal position compared to several other states in the region.
The index was released by Suman Bery and evaluates the fiscal performance of Indian states based on multiple indicators. Among the north-eastern and Himalayan states, Arunachal Pradesh secured the top position, followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and Mizoram.
The Fiscal Health Index assesses how effectively states manage their finances, including revenue generation, expenditure quality and debt sustainability. According to the report, states with widening revenue deficits should prioritise aligning their revenue expenditure with sustainable revenue growth to maintain fiscal stability.
In its recommendations, NITI Aayog urged state governments to adhere strictly to fiscal deficit norms under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM Act). The think tank advised states to adopt disciplined expenditure management, expand the Goods and Services Tax (GST) base, and strengthen their own tax mobilisation capacity. The FRBM framework seeks to regulate government debt by limiting fiscal and revenue deficits as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
At the national level, the report identified Odisha, Goa, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh as the country’s top ten fiscally sound states. Meanwhile, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana showed signs of mild recovery, while Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala continued to remain at the lower end of the rankings.
The FHI serves as a comprehensive framework to compare states’ fiscal performance. It evaluates them across five key sub-indices—quality of expenditure, revenue mobilisation, fiscal prudence, debt index and debt sustainability—offering a detailed picture of their fiscal strengths and weaknesses.
