E-Paper
Himachal govt to raise ₹1,000-crore loan ahead of Diwali
According to the schedule, the Reserve Bank of India is set to raise ₹1,000 crore through an open auction on October 17 with the funds expected to be transferred to the state government’s account on October 18
Himachal Pradesh government has decided to secure a loan of ₹1,000 crore ahead of the Diwali festivities to accelerate development initiatives and address financial demands of the people. An official notification in this regard was issued on Thursday by finance secretary Abhishek Jain.
According to the schedule, the Reserve Bank of India is set to raise ₹1,000 crore through an open auction on October 17 with the funds expected to be transferred to the state government’s account on October 18. The loan, with a tenure of 20 years, will be due for repayment on October 18, 2043.
The notification adds that this move has received approval from the Union government. With this ₹1,000 crore, the loans secured by state government in the current financial year stand at ₹3,300 crore. The state has a borrowing limit of ₹6,200 crore till this December. The current government has raised loans totalling to over ₹7,000 crore.
The loan, raised just prior to the Diwali season, hints at the possibility of the state government considering an additional disbursement of dearness allowance to its employees. The delayed payments are estimated at around ₹10,500 crore.
The state government’s financial requirements have also been worsened by the ₹4,500-crore relief package in the wake of a natural disaster during the monsoon season.
Consequently, the government is securing additional financial resources to address these obligations and for developmental endeavours.
The debt burden of the state government was ₹69,476 crore at the end of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government. The government, with Jairam Thakur as the CM, had inherited a debt burden of ₹50,773 crore from the Virbhadra Singh government.
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who has been blaming the previous government for poor financial management.
During the monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha, Congress brought a white paper which claimed that current government inherited liabilities of ₹92,774 crore from previous government. According to the white paper, there is a debt of ₹1,02,818 on each person in the hill state.
