The State Government is likely to raise Open Market Borrowings (OMBs) of ₹6,572 crore in the form of auction of securities through the Reserve Bank of India for the fourth quarter of the current financial year which started on Sunday.
Accordingly, the government had planned to participate in auction of securities conducted by the RBI on January 10, 17 and 31 for raising ₹2,500 crore. This would be followed by ₹2,000 crore in February and another ₹2,072 crore in March, taking the total OMBs during the quarter to ₹6,572 crore, according to the indicative calendar of market borrowing by State Governments / Union Territories released by the RBI on Friday.
The State Government faced a tough time in the first three quarters of the current fiscal following restrictions imposed by the Union Finance Ministry on raising OMBs citing financial management issues. While the State Government had proposed to raise ₹52,167 crore through OMBs during the current fiscal, the Union Finance Ministry had restricted the limit to a little over ₹23,000 crore initially.
But the restrictions had been relaxed and the quantum of OMBs was reportedly increased to ₹39,000 crore after senior officials – Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Finance special chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao – held a series of consultations with the Union Government.
As the restrictions were eased, the State could borrow around ₹29,500 crore till December-end through auction of securities leaving option for raising another ₹9,500 crore.
The Government had however, indicated that it would raise ₹6,572 crore for the quarter leaving scope for borrowing another ₹3,000 crore till the end of the fiscal year. Finance department officials however, did not respond to queries on why the government had left options open for the remaining amount.
Published - January 01, 2023 06:46 pm IST
