Public debt rose to Rs 66.61 lakh crore at December-end

Arun Jaitley

India's public debt rose to Rs 66.61 lakh crore at the end of December 2017, representing a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.22 percent.

The debt (excluding liabilities under the Public Account) of the government was Rs 65.80 lakh crore at the end of September last year.

Internal debt and marketable securities constituted 93.1 percent and 82.6 per cent, respectively of the total public debt, at the December-end 2017, according to the quarterly report on debt management released by the Finance Ministry today.

"During the third quarter of fiscal year 2017-18, the government issued dated securities worth Rs 1,64,000 crore, lower than Rs 1,89,000 crore in the second quarter of fiscal 2016-17, thus leading to cumulative issuance of Rs 5,21,000 crore (87.0 per cent of 2017-18 RE) among others,"the report said.

The weighted average maturity (WAM) and weighted average yield (WAY) of dated securities issued during the third quarter of 2017-18 was 14.09 years and 7.04 percent, respectively. The liquidity position in the economy remained broadly in surplus during the quarter, the report said.

"The cash position of the government during Q3 of FY18 was also comfortable and as a result the government did not resort to WMA from the RBI," it said.

The trading volume of government securities on an outright basis also witnessed a decline of 21.6 percent during the third quarter 2017-18 over the previous quarter.