Government to borrow only 47.5 per cent of budgeted amount in H1 FY19: Economic Affairs Secretary

Expressing its intent to borrow less compared to the budgeted amount, the central government on Monday said that it will borrow only Rs 2.88 lakh crore through its benchmark bond scheme in the first half (H1) of FY19.

The central government uses its benchmark bond scheme, government securities or G-secs to raise funds from the open markets.

"This makes 47.5 per cent of the total budgeted amount as against 60-65 per cent share in this period in previous years," Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg told the media.

He said the government instead intends to use larger inflows from small savings schemes to fund its fiscal deficit during the year.

"We will borrow Rs one lakh crore from NSSF (National Social Security Fund) as against budgeted amount of Rs 75,000 crore," Garg said.

The central government has budgeted gross G-sec borrowing of about Rs 605,539 crore for FY19.