Govt borrowing likely to be lower in second half of FY19 than in the first

This will allow the government to keep the borrowing space free for the higher demand by the state governments

The Government of India’s (GoI’s) market borrowing in the second half (H2) of 2018-19, against expectations, might be lower than the Rs 2.9 trillion it plans to raise till the end of September.

It is meant to keep the yields on government debt paper low, which should please their buyers like banks and other financial institutions (higher yields happen when there is a greater supply of such paper).

A top government official said this would be made possible by easing the pace of buying back securities — a change from the aggressive stance of previous years. The space created will