Finance Min to decide borrowing calendar for FY21 second half in Sept last week

New Delhi: The finance ministry in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will decide the borrowing calendar for the second half of the current fiscal in the last week of current month, sources said.

As per the announcement made in May, the government intends to borrow remaining Rs 5.02 lakh crore out of Rs 12 lakh crore during

the October-March period to meet rising expenditure to combat COVID-19 crisis amidst moderation in tax collections.

The exact date for the meeting to decide the borrowing calendar is yet to be fixed but most likely it should happen in the last week of this month, the sources

said.

The government had envisaged to raise 58 per cent of the total borrowing target of Rs 6.98 lakh crore from the dated securities in the first half of the current fiscal.

During first quarter of 2020-21, the central government issued dated securities worth Rs 3,46,000 crore as against Rs 2,21,000 crore in the same period a year ago.

In the second quarter, the borrowing through dated papers has touched Rs 3.60 lakh crore as of September 18.

Thus, total borrowing so far this fiscal has been Rs 7.06 lakh crore, exceeding the government borrowing plan of Rs 6.98 lakh crore. This leaves the room for borrowing of less than Rs 4.94 lakh crore in the second half of the financial year.

One more borrowing as per the calendar is likely to take place on September 25 of Rs 30,000 crore.

After that, the borrowing for the remaining six months of the current fiscal will be limited to

Rs 4.64 lakh crore if the government does not raise its borrowing level beyond Rs 12

lakh crore.

Hard-pressed for funds to combat rising coronavirus infections, the government in May increased its market borrowing programme for the current financial year by more than 50 per cent to Rs 12 lakh crore.