India's total public debt (excluding liabilities under the public account) increased by 3.6 percent to Rs 63.35 lakh crore at the end of June 2017. The debt of the government was Rs 61.13 lakh crore at the end of March 2017. According to the report on debt management released by the finance ministry, this indicated a quarter-on-quarter rise of 3.6 percent in Q1 FY18 as compared to a decline of 1.15 percent in the previous quarter (Q4 FY17). Internal debt constituted 93 percent of public debt as of June 2017, while marketable securities accounted for 83.2 percent.
As per the report, the liquidity in the economy during the April-June quarter remained comfortable and continues to be in surplus mode after the demonetization move which kept the yield environment low. However, it observed that the cash position of the government was somewhat stressed during Q1 of FY17, due to front-loading of expenditure by the ministries and heavy repayment of G-secs falling during the quarter, combined with low cash inflows generally seen during the first half of the year.
To tide over these mismatch in cash flows of the government, the report said that Cash Management Bills (CMBs) of varying durations amounting to Rs 1,30,000 crore were issued during the quarter. It noted that CMBs of Rs 40,000 crore were redeemed during the quarter itself. It also revealed that the government also took recourse to Ways and Means advance from RBI during the spells of cash deficit and drew overdraft briefly during the quarter.