The Central government's total liabilities are seen rising to Rs 155.33 lakh crore in FY23, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 25.
This would represent an increase of 12 percent over the FY22 figure of Rs 138.88 lakh crore.
The Centre is set to borrow a record Rs 14.95 lakh crore on a gross basis from the market through the issuance of bonds in FY23.
As on July 25, the central government's outstanding securities amount to Rs 84.45 lakh crore.
"The risk profile of Government's debt stands out as safe and prudent in terms of accepted parameters of indicator based approach for debt sustainability," Chaudhary said in his reply.
"The Government debt is held predominantly (about 95 percent) in domestic currency. Outstanding external debt is financed by multilateral and bilateral agencies at concessional rates," the minister added.
Interestingly, as a percentage of GDP, the Centre's liabilities are set to increase to 60.2 percent in FY23.
After surging to 61.6 percent of GDP in FY21 on account of the coronavirus pandemic, the Centre's liabilities had declined to 58.7 percent in FY22 as the economy rebounded.
India's public debt has often been cited as a key weakness of the economy, not just by rating agencies but even by technocrats. Earlier this year in June, even as it changed its outlook on India's rating to stable from negative, Fitch Ratings said India's public finances "remain a credit weakness".
This year, the Centre is set to borrow a record sum from the markets through the issuance of bonds to fund its expenditure. It has targeted a fiscal deficit of 6.4 percent of GDP.
The fiscal deficit was 6.7 percent of GDP in FY22, 20 basis points lower than the revised target of 6.9 percent.
In reply to a separate question, Chaudhary said the combined liabilities of the central and state governments was Rs 195.49 lakh crore in FY22, or 82.6 percent of GDP.
No projection was provided for how much state governments' liabilities might increase in FY23.
