India’s public debt rises 6.7% to Rs45,80,472 crore in July-September 2013

The total public debt of the central government as of end-September 2013 increased on a quarter-on-quarter basis by 6.7 per cent, compared with an increase of 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter.

Total public debt (excluding liabilities under the 'Public Account') of the government increased to Rs45,80,472 crore as of end-September 2013, from Rs42,92,870 crore at end-June 2013, an official statement said.

Internal debt constituted 90.8 per cent of public debt and 83.0 per cent of these were marketable securities.

About 31 per cent of outstanding dated securities have a residual maturity of up to 5 years compared with about 34 per cent a quarter ago, reflecting a decline in the rollover risk in the debt portfolio. 

Gross fiscal deficit of the government projected in the budget estimates for 2013-14 stood at Rs5,42,499 crore, constituting 4.8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) against Rs5,20,925 crore (5.2 per cent of GDP) in the revised estimates for 2012-13.

The gross and net market borrowing requirements of the government stood at Rs5,79,009 crore and Rs4,84,000 crore, respectively.

Gross and net market borrowings budgeted are higher than in the previous year by 3.8 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively during the current fiscal (2013-14).

In the secondary market, bond yields went up during the quarter, mainly due to capital outflows from debt market and subsequent monetary tightening by RBI to support the rupee as well as rise in inflation rate.

Bond yield curve steepened in the above 10-year maturity segment, while it remained flat in the below 10 years maturity segment.

Trading volumes declined during the quarter amidst rising yields and uncertainty regarding economic outlook. The annualised outright turnover ratio for central government dated securities for Q2 of FY14 dropped to 3.5 from 9.3 during the previous quarter.