The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has said the Government will not overshoot its market borrowing target for this fiscal, thus leaving enough credit available for the private sector.
“I am not going to expand borrowing and I will plan my borrowing in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India in a manner to ensure that the private sector is not elbowed out of the borrowing market,” Mr Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after the Nabard board meeting here today.
The Government plans to borrow Rs 4.17 lakh crore from the market. Last year it had borrowed Rs 4.47 lakh crore. Of this, it is stipulated to borrow 60 per cent or Rs 2.5 lakh crore during April-September.
With less scheduled Government borrowings in the second half of the fiscal, sufficient credit would remain available for the private sector to borrow from the market. The net market borrowings, after making re-payments, would total Rs 3.43 lakh crore in the current fiscal.
The Minister also exuded confidence that the Government would be able to meet the revenue collection targets for the current fiscal.
“I am not worried on the revenue front because there is revenue buoyancy and it is moving on the expected line,” he said.
He said the government faced “temporary cash flow problem” because of much higher tax refunds.
“...instead of deferring the refund for the next 2-3 months, we made it upfront. But that does not alter the net kitty which will be available to me by the end of the year,” he added.
The Government is expecting gross tax revenue of Rs 9.32 lakh crore this fiscal.
As per the latest data available on direct tax front, gross collection during April-June quarter was up 23.91 per cent at Rs 1,04,136 crore.
Direct tax refunds recorded a 205.01 per cent increase at Rs 46,868 crore in the first quarter of 2011-12 against Rs 15,366 crore in the year-ago period.