By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian government said Friday it would borrow Rs.2.5 lakh crore ($55.6 billion) in April-September period, which is 60 percent of the total budgeted market borrowings for fiscal 2011-12.
Total budgeted borrowing for the next financial year is Rs.4.17 lakh crore ($92.66 billion). “The government will borrow Rs.2.5 lakh crore between April 1 to Sep 30 period,” R. Gopalan, secretary, department of economic affairs, told reporters here.
The government generally used to borrow the majority of the budgeted amount in the first half of the fiscal.
Gopalan said in percentage terms, the borrowings will be less to help reduce fiscal deficit to 4.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Our economy is growing and our own requirement in absolute terms is the same, which means that in percentage terms, it is less,” he said.
He said less government borrowings would provide plenty of free space for private sector to access the credit market.
The finance ministry Friday released the calendar for issuance of government of India dated securities for the period April 1 to Sep 30 this year.
“With a view to enabling institutional and retail investors to plan their investment in an efficient manner and providing transparency and stability in the government securities market, it has been decided to continue with the system of releasing the indicative calendar for issuance of the government of India securities,” the ministry said in a statement.
The calendar is being issued in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).