Govt plans to borrow Rs 2.88 trn in H1FY19; to issue inflation indexed bond

The government will borrow Rs 2.88 trillion in the April-September period of next fiscal, which is 47.56% of the budgeted gross borrowing.

In April-September of current fiscal, the gross borrowing was Rs 3.72 trillion.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the government will come out with inflation-indexed bonds linked to CPI or retail inflation. Also, government securities of 1-4 years duration will be introduced.

He further said that the budgeted gross borrowing through G-Secs for fiscal 2018-19 was Rs 6.05 trillion, which would be used to fund the fiscal deficit of 3.3% of GDP.

"We are absolutely confident that we will be able to meet all expenditures without going into over draft," Garg told reporters here.

The 47.56% of budgeted gross borrowing in the first half of next fiscal is lower than the average of 60-65% in last five years.

Garg said in the next fiscal the G-Sec buyback would be reduced by Rs 250 billion. In addition to this, the government will withdraw up to Rs 1 trillion from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) -- Rs 250 billion more than in the current financial year -- to fund the fiscal deficit.

This could reduce the overall market borrowing programme of the government for the entire fiscal, Garg said.

To a question on whether it would be less by Rs 500 billion, he said it should be.