Govt debt rises to Rs 40.83 lakh cr in Jan-March period

New Delhi: Government debt rose 0.4 percent to over Rs 40.83 lakh crore in the January-March period of 2012-13 fiscal, over the previous quarter.

“This (Rs 40,83,040 crore debt) represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.4 per cent (provisional) compared with an increase of 4 per cent in the previous quarter (Q3 of FY13),” the Quarterly Report on Debt Management said today.

The debt was Rs 40,64,755 crore as of December 2012.

The internal debt constituted 91.1 percent of the public debt, compared to 90.7 percent in October-December quarter.

Government’s outstanding internal debt at Rs 37,18,633 crore constituted 37.1 percent of the GDP, compared to 36.8 percent at the end December 2012, the report added. It said the liquidity conditions in the economy remained tight during the January-March quarter with the liquidity deficit.

The RBI reduced CRR by 25 basis points to 4 percent, effective January 29, 2013 and purchased securities worth Rs 33,549 crore through OMO auctions during the quarter. RBI also reduced repo rate to 7.50 percent during the quarter in two steps of 25 basis points each.

The net amount provided under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) operations remained consistently high during the quarter.

The cash position of the government during last quarter was comfortable and remained in surplus mode during the quarter. The issuances of treasury bills were, however, scheduled in view of need for building up adequate surplus cash balance toward the end of the year to meet beginning of the year expenditure.

“Nevertheless, the amount raised though competitive route was reduced from the scheduled amount by Rs 4,150 crore during the quarter in view of comfortable cash position,” the debt report added.

It further said net inflows on account of foreign investment picked up during January-February on increased inflows through FDI and FIIs. “Increased foreign investment inflow enabled easing of

some pressure on rupee which remained under strain due to widening of trade deficit,” it said.

Rupee closed at 54.4 (per USD) at end-March 2013 as compared with 54.8 at end-December 2012.

Total expenditure during April-February period at 85.2 percent of revised estimates (RE) was higher than 83.9 percent during the same period of previous fiscal.

As a result of higher expenditure, revenue deficit and fiscal deficit during April-February, at 101.2 percent and 97.4 percent of RE, were higher than 96.6 percent and 94.6 per cent respectively, in the year-ago period, it said.

PTI