Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday 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," Mukherjee told reporters after board meeting of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development in New Delhi.
The government plans to borrow Rs 4.17 lakh crore (Rs 4.17 trillion) from the market. Last year it had borrowed Rs 4.47 lakh crore (Rs 4.47 trillion).
Of this, the government is stipulated to borrow 60 per cent or Rs 2.5 lakh crore (Rs 2.5 trillion) in the April-September period.
With less scheduled government borrowing in the second half of the fiscal, sufficient credit would remain available for the private sector to borrow from market.
The net market borrowings, after making re-payments, would total Rs 3.43 lakh crore (Rs 3.43 trillion)
Mukherjee 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 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 (Rs 9.32 trillion) this fiscal.
As per the latest data available on direct tax front, the gross collection during April-June quarter was up 23.91 per cent at Rs 1,04,136 crore (Rs 1,041.36 billion).
Direct tax refunds recorded a 205.01 per cent increase at Rs 46,868 crore (Rs 468.68 billion) in the first quarter of 2011-12 as against Rs 15,366 crore (Rs 153.66 billion) in the year-ago period.
