Telangana raises ₹8,800 crore till February 18 out of ₹30,000 crore it planned in Q4

The State government appears to have revised its schedule of raising open market borrowings through the Reserve Bank of India.

The State which submitted its intent to raise ₹30,000 crore during the January-March quarter at ₹10,000 crore every month, however is going slow on raising the amounts. According to the indicative calender of borrowings released by the RBI, the State has indicated that it will participate in all 12 auctions of securities conducted by the RBI during the three months.

The State however raised only ₹8,800 crore so far participating in the auctions conducted on January 7 and 28 and February 4. The State did not participate in the auction of securities conducted on February 11 and 18 though it had indicated that it would raise ₹2,000 crore and ₹2,500 crore respectively on the two days.

The development assumes significance as the State had initiated a spree of welfare and development programmes, the first being payment of Rythu Bandhu instalment at ₹7,500 an acre in place of ₹5,000 implemented by the previous BRS government. Welfare and development schemes apart, the State government is saddled with the burden of repayment of loans taken by the previous government even when the revenue receipts were not in line with the expectations.

The State crossed the quantum of market borrowings it would raise during the current fiscal. The State had made a provision for raising ₹49,255.41 crore in the form of borrowings and other liabilities in the budget estimates for the current financial year. Of this, borrowings and other liabilities reached ₹48,178.93 crore at the end of December leaving scope for raising little over ₹1,000 crore in the fourth quarter. The State however went ahead with borrowing another ₹8,800 crore in January and February taking the total borrowings to over ₹56,000 crore with five more auctions to be conducted by the RBI remaining in the fiscal.

The development comes in the light of restrictions imposed by the Union Finance Ministry in 2023-24 citing over borrowings of the previous years. The Union Finance Ministry had cut the borrowing limit of the State by over ₹15,580 crore citing that the State had over borrowed during the preceding fiscals and the limit had been arrived at after adjusting over-borrowing of the previous years. Senior officials remained tight-lipped when asked about the reasons behind the change in the schedule of market borrowings.