The State government continues to rely on open market borrowings, particularly through auction of securities, for swapping the high interest loans obtained over the past few years with low interest ones to offset the interest burden.
The State government raised ₹6,000 crore in market borrowings on September 2, taking the quantum of borrowings well above the ₹12,000 crore it has proposed in the indicative calendar of market borrowings for the second quarter. The State raised ₹2,000 crore on August 26, ₹1,000 crore (August 12) ₹5,000 crore (August 5) and ₹3,500 crore (July 29) in the last few weeks taking the total borrowed amounts to over ₹17,000 crore.
The borrowings show deviation from the amounts projected in the indicative calendar of market borrowings for the second quarter, as could be seen from the excess amounts borrowed till date, with three more tranches of auction of Government Securities by the Reserve Bank of India remaining in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the State government is also faced with the burden of repayment of amounts in the form of outstanding guarantees which are expiring in the coming months. According to the RBI data, the State’s outstanding guarantees for the current fiscal starting September 9 stand at ₹6,592 crore. This will be followed by the expiry of guarantees of over ₹18,000 crore next fiscal.
According to senior officials, the total outstanding Government Securities during the current fiscal are ₹16,740 crore (₹15,848 crore market borrowings and ₹892 crore UDAY loans) of which ₹10,148 crore had been repaid till date. However, the State had an option to raise additional borrowings with which it could repay the amount due on expiry of guarantees. “This is not a big issue. The State has an additional borrowing option for repayment of guarantees expiring,” an official said.
Published – September 14, 2025 06:37 pm IST