Gujarat to auction state securities worth Rs 1K cr

The Gujarat government today said it will sell state government stock securities worth Rs 1,000 crore with a holding period of 10 years to fund development programmes and schemes included in its annual development plan (ADP) for 2011-2012.

The auction of the stock securities will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tomorrow, Gujarat Finance Department Additional Secretary Manish Verma said in a statement.

In recent years, the Gujarat government's public debt has mounted and it stood at Rs 1,13,125 crore as of March 31, 2011. According to the state government, the debt has been utilised for developmental activities in the state and in the creation of productive assets.

Besides the staggering public debt, the state government has extended guarantees on behalf of government-owned entities and various statutory bodies of the state. As stated in the Finance Department release, the government has projected a revenue surplus of Rs 443 crore for FY'2011-12, as against last year's revenue deficit of Rs 5,561 crore.

Through stringent financial and administrative measures, the government has reduced its outstanding guarantees from Rs 19,001 crore at the end of 2002-03 to Rs 8,824 crore as on March 31 this year, the statement had said.