This paper analyses the growth and composition of the internal public debt of the government of India during the period 1970-71 to 1987-88. Discussing the concept and measurement of public debt, the authors point out thai the budget classification does not provide a proper measure of the government's internal debt, tending to over-estimate it in some respects and under-estimate it in others. The authors note a significant change in the trend of public debt in the eighties as compared to the seventies and discuss the proximate causes and policy implications of this change.
