NEW DELHI: The Centre has retained its borrowing target for the current financial year as it announced its Rs 6.61 lakh crore borrowing plan for the second half of the financial year. The government borrowed Rs 7.4 lakh crore in the first half out of the gross market borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore estimated for 2024-25.
As per the Centre, out of Gross Market borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore budgeted for 2024-25, Rs 6.61 lakh crore (47.2%) is planned to be borrowed in second half of the year through issuance of dated securities, including Rs 20,000 crore of Sovereign Green Bonds.
The government said it will continue to reserve the right to exercise greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription of up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notifications.
In the third quarter of FY25, weekly borrowing via issuance of Treasury Bills is projected to reach Rs 19,000 crore over a span of 13 weeks. This will include Rs 7,000 crore from 91-day dated Treasury Bills (DTBs), Rs 6,000 crore from 182-day DTBs, and Rs 6,000 crore from 364-day DTBs.
To manage temporary discrepancies in government accounts, the Reserve Bank of India has set the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limit for the second half of FY 2024-25 at Rs 50,000 crore. Of the total estimated gross market borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore for 2024-25, Rs 7.4 lakh crore, accounting for 52.8%, has already been raised in the first half of the fiscal year. It is to be noted that the gross borrowing for FY25 is lower than last year’s gross borrowing estimate of Rs 15.43 lakh crore, which was the highest ever.
According to Aditi Nayar, chief economist & head - Research and Outreach at ICRA Ltd, while the Rs 6.61 lakh crore borrowing in second half of the year is only marginally higher than year-ago levels, a sharp decline in redemptions would entail a sharp 32% YoY expansion in the net borrowings to ` 6.0 trillion in the second half of the fiscal.
India set to achieve 6.5-7% growth in FY25
NEW DELHI: India is set to achieve 6.5-7% GDP growth in the current financial year as indicated by the movements in high-frequency indicators till August, a finance ministry report said on Thursday. The recent developments analysed indicate strong foundations of macroeconomic stability in India with steady growth, investment, employment and inflation trends, a strong and stable financial sector and a resilient external account, including a comfortable foreign exchange reserve position.