The anxious wait of the State Government for the Central Government’s approval to raise open market borrowings continues.
More than one month after the State had submitted its proposals to raise OMBs to the tune of ₹15,000 crore during the first quarter of the current financial year as projected in the indicative calendar of borrowings, the Centre is yet to give its formal approval for the same in line with the provisions under Article 293 of the Constitution. As a result, the State is yet to avail of single tranche of OMB during the auctions conducted by the Reserve Bank of India till May 2 and the State’s name is yet to figure in the list of States that had opted for OMBs in the next auction scheduled on May 10.
The issue had reportedly become a cause of concern for the State Government as it had to start remitting ₹ 5,000 an acre under the flagship programme, Rythu Bandhu, the farmers investment support scheme, early next month.
Over 60 lakh farmers are enrolled under the scheme and the State is expected to incur around ₹ 7,500 crore for payment of the instalment for kharif season. As the financial situation remains more or less the same like the previous fiscal, the government is struggling to raise finances required for implementation of Rythu Bandhu as well as Dalit Bandhu, involving one time grant of ₹10 lakh each to eligible dalit families for promoting entrepreneurship among them.
Senior officials are however hopeful that the government would receive the permission sooner than later and are confident that there will be no interruption in the implementation of the flagship programmes. “Once the permission is given for the total amount, the State has the freedom to raise money from the market within the period for which permission is granted,” a senior official told The Hindu.
Asked whether the State would avail the Green Shoe option for raising additional amounts during RBI auction to bridge the shortfall if any, the official said the option would be utilised whenever the State proposed to raise amount over and above the notified quantum and this would be based on favourable market conditions.
