New Delhi: The Centre will borrow Rs 2.88 lakh crore in the April-September (H1FY19) as it is looking to reduce its dependency on market borrowing.
In FY18, the market borrowing in the first six months was Rs 3.72 lakh crore.
This Rs 2.88 lakh crore is 47.56 per cent of the total gross borrowing for FY19 which the budget pegged at Rs 6.05 lakh crore.
In the H1FY18, the market borrowing was 60-65 per cent of the total gross borrowing.
The move will ensure that private players are not crowded out in the market.
Instead, Centre intends to use larger inflows from national small savings schemes to fund its fiscal deficit in FY19.
The government will borrow Rs 1 lakh crore from NSSF as against Rs 75,000 crore targeted in the Budget.
Economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the government will come out with inflation-indexed bonds linked to CPI or retail inflation. Also, the government securities of 1-4 years duration will be introduced.
He further said that the budgeted gross borrowing through G-Secs for FY19 was Rs 6.05 lakh crore which would be used to fund the fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of GDP.
