Govt to borrow Rs 2.5 lakh crore in first half of current fiscal

Economic Affairs Secretary R. Gopalan on Friday said the government would raise over 60 per cent of the total budgeted market borrowings for the next fiscal in the first half of the current fiscal. This would amount to 2.5 trillion rupees (US$ 55 billion). Before meeting the Finance Minister, Gopalan told reporters that government's dependence on market borrowing was coming down. The Economic Affairs Secretary said lower government borrowings for the entire fiscal would have a positive impact for the private sector, as they would not crowd out the resources as much as they did in the current fiscal (2010-11).