Govt debt increases by 0.4% to Rs 40.83 lakh crore in Q4

Government debt rose 0.4 per cent 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 per cent of the public debt, compared to 90.7 per cent in October-December quarter.

 Government’s outstanding internal debt at Rs. 37,18,633 crore constituted 37.1 per cent of the GDP, compared to 36.8 per cent 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 per cent, 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 per cent 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.