The State government has decided to raise open market borrowings of ₹1,500 crore from the Reserve Bank of India, taking the total borrowing in the current third quarter to ₹6,000 crore against the targeted ₹6,295 crore.
The amount would be raised through auction of State government securities being conducted on Tuesday. The auction would be conducted on the RBI’s core banking solution e-Kuber system. Government stock up to 10% of the notified amount of sale of each stock would be allotted to eligible individuals and institutions, subject to a maximum limit of one per cent of the notified amount for single bid per stock as per the scheme for non-competitive bidding facility, the RBI said.
The State government has already raised ₹4,500 crore in three tranches during the current quarter – ₹1,500 crore on October 5, ₹2,000 crore on November 1 and ₹1,000 crore on November 16.
The total projected borrowings for the current quarter have been pegged at ₹6,295 crore, according to the tentative calendar of borrowings by the State governments/Union Territories released by the RBI at the start of the third quarter. The State will be left with open market borrowings to the tune of ₹295 crore with more than three weeks pending for the completion of the current quarter going by the tentative calendar of the RBI.
However, the commitments of the government had been on the rise with the implementation of Rythu Bandhu payment of Rabi instalment, which is due this month, and the additional burden imposed on account of the revised pay scale for employees. Expenditure for payment of salaries and wages for the current fiscal have been pegged at ₹34,609.4 crore as against ₹25,364.7 crore of the previous fiscal, according to the RBI’s handbook on State budgets.
This reflects the impact of the implementation of pay revision for employees of different cadres with 30% fitment benefit on the State exchequer.
