Government to borrow ₹8 lakh cr in April-September of FY26
The government will borrow ₹8 lakh crore through dated securities during April-September period of fiscal year 2025-26, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. This is 54 per cent of the budget estimates and slightly higher than the current fiscal.
The government has budgeted ₹14.82 lakh crore as gross borrowing for FY 2025-26. April-September (first half) borrowing will include ₹10,000 crore of sovereign green bonds (SGrBs). Borrowing will be completed through 26 weekly auctions. Market borrowing will be spread over 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 30, 40 and 50 year dated securities. Such securities are issued with coupon rate which means lenders will get interest on a regular basis till maturity.
To finance fiscal deficit, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.54 lakh crore. The balance financing is expected to come from small savings and other sources.
“Securities up to maturity of 5 years will have a share of 16.6 per cent as compared to 14.4 per cent. There is no change in securities with maturities between 7-10 years at 34.4 per cent, while securities with maturity of more than 10 years will have share of 49 per cent as compared to 51.2 per cent,” D K Pant, Chief Economist with India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) said.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry statement said the Government will carry out switching/buyback of securities to smoothen the redemption profile. “The Government will continue to reserve the right to exercise greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription of up to ₹2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notifications,” the statement said.
