Public debt rises 2.1% in Oct-Dec quarter

Government's total debt increased by 2.1 percent in the third quarter ended December 31, over the previous 3-month period of the current financial year.

"The public debt (excluding liabilities under the 'Public Account') of the Central Government provisionally increased by 2.1 percent in Q3 of FY15 on Q-o-Q basis as compared with an increase of 2.3 percent in the previous quarter (Q2 of FY15)," an official statement said. Internal debt constituted 91.9 percent of public debt as at December-end, it said.

It comprises government borrowing from the market to bridge fiscal deficit. The gross borrowing during the April-December period was Rs 4.97 lakh crore (82.8 percent of Budget Estimate), as compared to Rs 5.09 lakh crore (87.9 percent) in the 9-month period of the previous fiscal, the statement said.

Net borrowing during April-December in 2014-15 was Rs 3.62 lakh crore or 78.5 percent of BE, lower than Rs 4.34 lakh crore or 89.7 percent of BE in the previous fiscal.

About 26.5 percent of outstanding stock has a residual maturity of up to 5 years, which implies that over the next five years, on an average, 5.3 percent of outstanding stock needs to be rolled over every year.

"Thus, the rollover risk in the debt portfolio continues to be low. The implementation of budgeted buy back/ switches in coming years is expected to reduce roll over risk further," the statement said.

Meanwhile, marketable securities accounted for 84.7 percent of the public debt. Overall bonds yields moderated across the curve in third quarter of the current fiscal, compared to previous quarter and the yield curve flattened at the longer end of the curve, it added.

Trading volumes, on an outright basis, were higher by 44.55 percent over the previous quarter, due to higher trading on account of Central government dated securities.

The annualised outright turnover ratio for central government dated securities for the third quarter of FY'15 increased to 10.47 from 8.27 during the previous quarter, the statement said.