The State’s borrowings and other liabilities during the current financial year are inching closer to ₹30,000 crore mark.
The State has raised ₹2,000 crore as open market borrowing (OMB) in the form of State Development Loan from the Reserve Bank of India on November 1. It was preceded by another ₹1,500 crore in the first week of October, taking the borrowings in the third quarter (October to December) to ₹3,500 crore.
The State government borrowings and other liabilities crossed ₹25,000 crore mark, reaching ₹25,573 crore by the end of the first half of the current financial year between April and September, according to the key indicators in the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s website. The latest borrowings in the form of State development loans take the total to ₹29,073 crore. The tentative calendar of borrowings released by the RBI in consultation with the States projected the OMBs of the State for the current quarter at ₹6,295 crore.
The State had raised ₹3,500 crore within a span of one month (October 5 and November 1). It was projected that the State would obtain OMBs of ₹1,000 crore each on October 26 and November 1. It had, however, opted for raising the amount in a single tranche on November 1. The financial situation of the State, according to senior officials, is yet to reach normalcy although it improved significantly over the past three months since the complete lifting of restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The government’s decision to fulfil its commitment of revision of pay scales to government employees costed it almost ₹1,000 crore additionally every month. Coupled with this was the burden imposed by Dalit Bandhu, the scheme for providing financial assistance of ₹10 lakh each to dalit families as a measure of their empowerment, were said to have imposed additional burden on the State exchequer.
Keeping in view the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the finances, the government had estimated borrowings and liabilities could be of the order of ₹45,509 crore for the current fiscal year and the same was placed in the budget under capital receipts. There is still a long way to go to reach the figure projected in the budget.
