Govt looks to expand debt management cell as PDMA remains in backburner

A top govt official told Business Standard that internally, the plan for PDMA is unlikely to be revived

In 2015, the Finance Ministry under Arun Jaitley was ready to bring legislative changes required to form the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA), an independent body which would plan and manage the central government’s borrowings. The changes were in the Finance Bill 2015 along with the proposal to create the Monetary Policy Committee.

However, while MPC became a reality, the plan for PDMA was put on the backburner after disagreement with the Reserve Bank of India over its structure and functioning.

Officially, it was never truly shelved, and the Finance Ministry instead created an interim Public Debt Management Cell (PDMC).