Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said that the central government will borrow Rs 4.42 lakh crore from the market in the first half of the 2019-20 fiscal (H1 FY20). As per the Union Budget, the gross borrowing was pegged at Rs 7.1 lakh crore for 2019-20, higher than Rs 5.71 lakh crore estimated for the ongoing fiscal. He also said that the remaining Rs 2.68 lakh crore or 37.7 percent of the total gross borrowing would be raised from the markets by floating government bonds and treasury bills during the October-March period.
Besides, net borrowing would be Rs 3.40 lakh crore in the first half (April-September) and in the second half it would be lower at Rs 1.33 lakh crore. Garg has stated that the gross borrowing is higher because of the repayment programme. He also noted that gross borrowing amount is also used towards repayments of past loans.
Adding further, he said that the government will stick to the fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent of the GDP for the current fiscal. He informed the government would be introducing a new benchmark of 7 years for dated securities. He also said “You would recall in the current financial year we had introduced two new benchmarks of two-year security and five-year security. Now there will be 7-year security also. So we complete the yield curve.” In the interim Budget in February, the government had proposed to restrict the fiscal deficit at 3.4 per cent of the GDP in the next fiscal beginning February 1.
Start Research-backed Investing ...Now. Subscribe to Sapphire
MoneyWorks4Me is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) dedicated to helping investors build long-term wealth through transparent, research-driven, conflict-free guidance. Founded in 2008, we started our journey as a Research Analyst (RA), providing deep fundamental analysis, intrinsic value insights, and long-term investing frameworks for Indian equities. In 2017, we transitioned to a full-fledged SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, strengthening our commitment to acting as a fiduciary—always putting the investor’s interest first.
To become India’s most trusted, research-powered fiduciary advisory platform—where every investor, regardless of experience, can make calm, confident, and well-reasoned investment decisions.
MoneyWorks4Me ensures this through: