Govt to borrow Rs 12 trn from markets in FY22, extra Rs 80,000 cr this year

Pegs fiscal deficit at 9.5% of GDP this fiscal, 6.8% the next; 10-year bond yields jump past 6% to trade at 6.09% at 12:30pm

The Centre will be borrowing about Rs 12 trillion in fiscal 2021-22, as it pegged fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will be borrowing Rs 80,000 extra in this fiscal to meet its deficit for 2020-21, pegged at 9.5 per cent of the GDP. Therefore, the total gross borrowing this fiscal would be Rs 14 trillion. 

The yields on the 10-year bond jumped past 6 per cent to trade at 6.09 per cent at 12:30pm. 

The government plans to bring down the fiscal deficit at 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 in a "fairly steady" manner over the period. The Finance Minister will be tabling a deviation statement on Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act (FRBM) to enable this. Under the FRBM Act mandated the govenrment to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3 per cent by 2020-21, which is not possible now because of the pandemic, the Finance Minister said. 

The borrowing from states will also be heavy as they can now push their deficits to 4 per cent of the state GDP, but they will have to bring down the deficit to 3 per cent by 2023-24, in line with 15th Finance Commission recommendatins, the FM said.