The gross borrowing was pegged at Rs 7.1 lakh crore for 2019-20, substantially higher than Rs 5.71 lakh crore estimated for the ongoing fiscal. Gross borrowing includes repayments of past loans. In the current fiscal, the gross borrowing is higher because of the repayment programme.
There was no official statement on the H2 borrowings and sources said it will be announced on September 30 after finalisation.
The Reserve Bank of India releases the schedule of government borrowing. The Central government had budgeted to raise Rs 4.42 lakh crore through borrowing in the first half of the 2019-20 fiscal while Parliament has approved a gross borrowing for Rs 7.1 lakh crore for the entire 2019-20 fiscal.
The remaining Rs 2.68 lakh crore or 37.7 per cent of the total gross borrowing was aimed to be raised from the markets by floating government bonds and treasury bills during the October-March period.
Net borrowing in the first half (April-September) would be Rs 3.40 lakh crore. In the second half, net borrowing would be lower at Rs 1.33 lakh crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the government will review FY20 fiscal deficit aim closer to Budget and there is no plan to cut FY20 expenditure as of now.
She added the ministry would take a call on FY20 extra borrowing later, if needed. She said: "At this point of time we are not revising any fiscal targets," Sitharaman told reporters.
"The decision will be taken later. The fiscal deficit target and government market borrowing for 2019-20 will be reviewed closer to the Budget for next year, she had said. The government had on Friday announced a huge cut in corporate tax rates, which will result in a revenue loss of about 1.45 trln rupees.
The cut in corporate tax rate to 22% from 30% has raised doubts whether the government will be able to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of GDP in 2019-20.
( With inputs from IANS )