MUMBAI, July 14 -- With the highest ever bank guarantee of Rs.62,569 crore in the financial year 2024-25 for loans taken by its own public sector undertakings and the interest on them, the total cumulative guarantee of the state stands at over Rs.1.44 lakh crore. Experts and officials from the finance department claim that public sector units (PSUs) are forced to raise loans as a result of populist schemes like Ladki Bahin, and this could affect the government's credit ranking in the market. According to the documents tabled by the finance department in the legislative assembly on Friday, the government gave bank guarantees for loans of Rs.62,569 crore in FY2024-25. One of these pertains to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), a PSU that raised a loan of Rs.35,469 crore in September 2024 to repay dues to Maharashtra transmission and power-generation companies such as the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited, Power Finance Corporation Limited and Hudco. The government also stood guarantee for Rs.15,000 crore borrowed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation for land acquisition for the Virar-Alibaug Multimodal Corridor; Rs.12,000 crore raised by MMRDA from the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited for implementation of infrastructure projects; and for a loan of Rs.100 crore taken by the Shabari Tribal Development Corporation for social schemes for tribals. The PSUs were made to take the loans partly because of the government's failure to pay their dues....