RBI will stick to borrowing calendar, says Khan

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will stick to the present market-borrowing calendar (April-September) for now, as there was still time for review, said Deputy Governor H R Khan.

The government’s fiscal deficit for the first quarter touched Rs 1.90 lakh crore, 37 per cent of the entire year’s budget estimate, the latest data released by the Controller General of Accounts said. The government had pegged the fiscal deficit for 2012-13 at Rs 513,000 crore (5.1 per cent of the gross domestic product). The fiscal deficit at the same period last year was 39 per cent of the budget estimates, amounting to Rs 1.63 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, Arvind Mayaram, economic affairs secretary, said the government was committed to bring down the burgeoning fiscal deficit and would soon come out with an action plan.

Earlier, speaking at inauguration of the Federal bank’s corporate finance branch, he said growth in manufacturing sector was hampered by aspects such as deficit of liquidity (resources, including capital), legal challenges in liquidation of defunct units and leadership (absence of diversified entrepreneurial base).

The system has not fully exploited the potential for manufacturing in the country whose share in the country’s GDP was 15-16 per cent, he said.