New Delhi | The Centre plans to raise Rs 8 lakh crore through dated securities during April-September period of 2025-26 to fund the revenue gap, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
Out of gross market borrowing of Rs 14.82 lakh crore estimated for 2025-26, Rs 8 lakh crore, or 54 per cent, is planned to be borrowed in the first half (H1) through issuance of dated securities, including Rs 10,000 crore of Sovereign Green Bonds (SGrBs), an official statement said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget proposed to borrow Rs 14.82 lakh crore by issuing dated securities to meet revenue shortfall in the next financial year.
Fiscal deficit, the gap between the government's total revenue and total expenditure, is estimated to be 4.4 per cent of GDP for FY26 as compared to 4.8 per cent of the GDP estimated for the current financial year.
In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit is pegged at Rs 15,68,936 crore for the financial year 2025-26.
To finance the fiscal deficit, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.54 lakh crore. The balance financing is expected to come from small savings and other sources.
"Coming to 2025-26, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs 34.96 lakh crore and Rs 50.65 lakh crore, respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at Rs 28.37 lakh crore," Sitharaman had said in her Budget speech.
According to the latest official statement, the gross borrowing would be completed through 26 weekly auctions ranging between Rs 25,000 crore and Rs 36,000 crore.
The market borrowing will be spread over 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 30, 40 and 50 year securities and the share of borrowing (including SGrBs) under different maturities will be 3-year (5.3 per cent), 5-year (11.3 per cent), 7-year (8.2 per cent), 10-year (26.2 per cent), 15-year (14 per cent), 30-year (10.5 per cent), 40-year (14 per cent) and 50-year (10.5 per cent).
The government will carry out switching/buyback of securities to smoothen the redemption profile, it said.
The government will continue to reserve the right to exercise greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription of up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notifications, it said.
Weekly borrowing through issuance of Treasury Bills in the first quarter (Q1) of FY 2025-26 is expected to be Rs 19,000 crore for 13 weeks with issuance of Rs 9,000 crore under 91-day T-bill, Rs 5,000 crore under 182-day T-bill and Rs 5,000 crore under 364-day T-bill.
To take care of temporary mismatches in government accounts, it said, the Reserve Bank of India has fixed the Ways and Mean Advances (WMA) limit for H1 of FY 2025-26 at Rs 1.50 lakh crore.
Like in the past, the central government, in consultation with the RBI, will continue to have the flexibility to bring about modifications in the calendar in terms of the notified amount, issuance period, maturities, etc, and to issue different types of instruments, including instruments having non-standard maturity, floating rate bonds (FRBs), inflation indexed bonds (IIBs), depending on the requirement after giving due notice to the market.
The calendar is subject to change, if circumstances so warrant, including for reasons such as intervening holidays, it added.
New Delhi | Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the "reckless policies" of the LDF and UDF governments have led to a "fiscal crisis" in Kerala, as she dismissed allegations that the Centre has cut funds for the southern state.
The finance minister also mentioned that the Left front government of EMS Namboodiripad in Kerala was dismissed by the Congress.
"The truth is that Kerala's fiscal crisis is a result of both the LDF and UDF governments' reckless policies and not the fault of the central government. Did it stop us from doing work in Kerala? No," she said.
Amid protests from opposition members and heated exchanges, Sitharaman referred to the Communist Party of India (CPI) government of Namboodiripad being dismissed by the Congress regime at the Centre.
"When the Namboodiripad government was thrown out by the Congress.... Do remember the day when democracy was killed by an elected government being thrown out. Where were you at that time?" she asked.
"You are a Communist party member, you are sitting in alignment with the Congress. The Congress is the one which threw it out, you do not even want to remember that. With respect, I will bring Namboodiripad, the patron of Communism in India," she said.
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar pointed out that it was the first-ever elected Communist government in the world.
As some opposition MPs asked what was the relevance of mentioning the point, Sitharaman said, "For me, even the 1959 throwing out of the Communist government is not old. (It) shows how Indian democracy was misused by the Congress."
"If a Communist party member asks me what is the relevance of it.... It hurts me to no end. I am surprised. You should never forget," she said.
Dismissing allegations that the Centre is not sanctioning sufficient funds for the southern state, Sitharaman said, "Kerala received Rs 1.57 lakh crore between 2014 and 2024, which is an increase of 239 per cent over the UPA period. How much did it receive between 2004 and 2014? Rs 46,300 crore."
"Kerala is being differentiated, discriminated ... please ... we follow the recommendations of the Finance Commission and that is what is going to you. It is not lesser than what you received earlier," she added.
The minister said there was a 509-per cent surge in the grant-in-aid and while the Kerala received Rs 25,630 crore from 2004 to 2014, it received Rs 1.56 lakh crore between 2014 and 2024.
"I am saying this with a sense of responsibility that Kerala has never been supported better than this government, the way Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has supported it," she said.
"It is hurting to hear Kerala repeatedly saying that you are discriminating against us...," she said.
Sitharaman also quoted a Supreme Court judgment in a case relating to borrowing limits, which said Kerala "has not unutilised the fiscal space and that the state has over-utilised its fiscal space".
She also quoted a CAG audit report and said it observed that in 2022-23, 97.88 per cent of Kerala's debt receipts were utilised for repaying the outstanding debt, which indicated poor debt management by the state government.
