Telangana Govt treading cautiously on borrowings as limit proposed for Q3 is approaching 

Telangana Government adjusts market borrowings schedule, deviating from RBI calendar, raising ₹5,500 crore so far this quarter.

Telangana Government appears to be treading cautiously on raising market borrowings through auction of state government securities by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The State Government has indicated that it will borrow ₹7,400 crore during the October-December quarter in the indicative calendar of borrowings submitted to the RBI. It has so far raised ₹5,500 crore through auction of securities conducted till November 12.

In the process, the Government deviated from the schedule it has proposed to the RBI: while the Government indicated that it will participate in auction of securities on October 1, 8 and 22 to raise ₹4,400 crore borrowings, it has in fact raised ₹4,500 crore through auction of securities on October 1, 15 and 29.

In November too, the Government has indicated that it will raise ₹1,000 crore each on November 5 and 26. It has however participated in the auction conducted by the RBI on November 12 for ₹1,000 crore.

With just ₹1,900 crore space left for raising market borrowings for current quarter, the Government apparently made changes in the schedule of its participation in auction of securities.

The development comes after the State incurred huge expenditure in excess of ₹18,000 crore towards crop loan waiver of up to ₹2 lakh to eligible farmers. Finance department officials remained tight lipped when asked about the reasons behind altering the schedule of borrowings.

It may be recalled that the Union Finance Ministry has fixed the limit of market borrowings for the current fiscal at ₹49,255 crore against the ₹59,625 crore proposed in the budget estimates for the year.