Public debt falls to Rs.55.73 lakh crore at fiscal-end

India's public debt declined marginally to Rs.55.73 lakh crore at the end of the last fiscal in March, registering a fall over the previous quarter of 0.04 percent, an official statement said on Monday.

Government debt (excluding liabilities under the Public Account) was at Rs 55.75 lakh crore at the end of December 2015, said the quarterly report on debt management released by the finance ministry.

Government's domestic borrowing for 2015-16 have been revised downwards, it said.

"Government issued dated securities worth Rs.84,000 crore to complete its gross borrowings of Rs.5,85,000 crore for FY 16.

"Gross and net market borrowing requirements of the government for FY16 were revised lower to Rs.5,85,000 crore and Rs.4,40,608 crore, which were lower by 1.18 percent and 2.75 percent, respectively, than Rs.5,92,000 crore and Rs.4,53,205 crore in FY15," it said.

"The cash position of the government during Q4 of FY16 was comfortable and remained in surplus mode during the quarter. The issuance amount under Treasury bills was also broadly as per calendar," it added.

The outstanding internal debt of the government at Rs.5,130,179 crore constituted 37.8 percent of GDP at end-March 2016, as compared to 38.7 percent of GDP at end-December 2015.

Central government dated securities continued to account for a dominant portion of total trading volumes in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, it said.

Net inflows in the form of foreign direct investment during the quarter in question were robust and more than sufficient to fund the external financing requirements, the report added.

During 2015-16, there has been an accretion of $18.54 billion to the foreign exchange reserves which touched $360.1762 billion at end-March 2016.

--IANS

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