Govt debt stable in Jan-March quarter

Government debt remained almost same with a 0.4 percent growth to over Rs 40.83 lakh crore in the January-March period of 2012-13 fiscal, over the previous quarter.

“This (Rs 40,83,040 crore debt) represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.4 per cent (provisional) compared with an increase of 4 per cent in the previous quarter (Q3 of FY13),” the Quarterly Report on Debt Management said today.

The internal debt constituted 91.1 percent of the public debt, compared to 90.7 percent in October-December quarter.

The RBI reduced CRR by 25 basis points to 4 percent, effective January 29, 2013 and purchased securities worth Rs 33,549 crore through Open Market Operations(OMO) auctions during the quarter. RBI also reduced repo rate to 7.50 percent during the quarter in two steps of 25 basis points each.

The net amount provided under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) operations remained consistently high during the quarter.

Total expenditure during April-February period at 85.2 percent of revised estimates (RE) was higher than 83.9 percent during the same period of previous fiscal.

As a result of higher expenditure, revenue deficit and fiscal deficit during April-February, at 101.2 percent and 97.4 percent of RE, were higher than 96.6 percent and 94.6 per cent respectively, in the year-ago period, it said.

New CAG sworn in

Shashi Kant Sharma was today sworn in as CAG by President Pranab Mukherjee in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was holding the post of Defence Secretary prior to this new assignment. He is taking charge at a difficult time when CAG is under sharp attack from the government  for its reports on assessment of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss in allocation of 2G spectrum. These reports came out during the tenure of Vinod Rai, who superannuated yesterday after a five-and-a-half year eventful tenure as the head of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

Key rates set by RBI

Key rates set by RBI like CRR, SLR, Repo, Reverse Repo, Bank Rate and MSF....

Key highlights of RBI policy

• Repo rate cut by 25 basis points. RBI Governor D Subbarao noted that there is limited room to ease monetary policy further as headline inflation remains above comfort levels. The repo rate now stands at 7.25 percent.
• Cash Reserve Ratio remained unchanged at 4 percent.
• RBI pegs economic growth for current fiscal at 5.7 percent.
• RBI says growth to remain subdued in first half of FY14. Economic activities expected to show only modest improvement. Industrial activity outlook remains subdued.
• Headline inflation will remain range-bound around 5.5 percent level in 2013-14
• *RBI said it will aim to reach 5 percent WPI inflation by March 2014
• RBI investigations revealed need for better regulatory compliance by banks. Advise banks to ensure transparent pricing of loans.
• RBI proposes doubling of priority sector lending limits to MSMEs to Rs 5 crore.
• FY14 Bank credit growth projection at 15 percent
• Biggest risk to economy stems from Current Account Deficit. Likelihood of capital flight due to growth concerns in advanced economies.

The biggest risk the central bank sees to the economy is the ballooning current account deficit (CAD) which remains well above the sustainable level of 2.5 percent of GDP. In fact, the central bank goes on to say that even if one accounted for the fact that the fiscal deficit is “programmed to decline,” the CAD was still high. “Large fiscal deficits can potentially spill over into the CAD and undermine its sustainability even further.A large CAD, appreciably above the sustainable level year after year, will put pressure on servicing of external liabilities,” the policy statement points out.