Sources of Financing

The excess of expenditure over receipts of the Government [commonly known as ‘Fiscal Deficit’] is financed through domestic as well as external borrowings. The Domestic borrowings comprise of (1) market borrowings; (2) Accruals in the Public Account; and (3) By issue of 91 day Treasury Bills (otherwise known as ‘Budgetary Deficit’ also). During the year 1996-97, Domestic borrowings comprised of 96% of total borrowings and the residual 4% came from external borrowings.

Domestic Borrowings – Market Borrowings

During the year 1996-97, Govt has raised market borrowings worth Rs.23878 crores – a sharp reduction of Rs. 3466 crores [13%] from the previous years level of market borrowings. At the end of 1996-97, cumulative outstanding debt under market borrowings was Rs.216957 crores.

(Rs. in crores)

Domestic Borrowings – Public Account Accruals

Public Account Accruals for the year 1996-97 were Rs.26883 crores - an increase of Rs.3908 crores [17%] over the previous year. At the end of the year, the cumulative outstanding liability under Public Account was Rs.261103 crores.

(Rs. in crores)

Domestic Borrowings – 91 Days Treasury Bills

Treasury Bills raised during 1996-97 were Rs.12728 crores- an increase of Rs.1265 crores [11%] over the previous year. At the end of the year 1996-97 the cumulative outstanding Treasury bills were Rs.127519 crores.

(Rs. in crores)

External Borrowings

The External Borrowings raised during 1996-97 were Rs.2988 crores, showing an increase of Rs.2670 crores. The outstanding external debt at end of 1996-97 was Rs.54239 crores. This works out to 8.25% of the total outstanding debt.

(Rs. in crores)

Per capita Outstanding Debt

The total outstanding debt at the end of 1996-97 was Rs.657444 crores. Taking a population estimate of 936 millions, per capita outstanding debt comes to Rs.7024 registering an increase of 10% over the previous year. It was Rs.6405 for the year 1995-96.

Average Cost of Borrowings

The average cost of borrowings for the Government has gone up to 9.54% during 1996-97 from 8.44% five years before [i.e. in 1992-93]. Of the increase of 1.1% in five years, maximum increase of 0.56% has occurred only during 1996-97.

(Rs. in crores)
Year	Average Debt Outstanding	Interest Paid
92-93	368251	31075
93-94	427666	36741
94-95	494559	44060
95-96	557448	50045
96-97	623371	59478

In the previous three years [i.e. 1993-94, 94-95 and 95-96], the average increase in the rate of borrowing was only 0.18%. Compared to this average increase of 0.18%, the increase of 0.56% in the year 1996-97 is quite steep.

Other Contingent Liabilities

In addition to the borrowings, Government of India also gives substantial guarantees to various State/UT Governments, Public Sector and other Undertakings. At the end of 1996-97, outstanding Guarantees issued by the Government were Rs.69748 crores as against the outstanding of Rs.65573 crores at the end of 1995-96.