By CL Jose
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/October 21-22: Centre seems to have softened its stance on Kerala’s market borrowings as the state is set to borrow Rs1,500 on October 25 through the sale of state development loans (SDLs).
The frequency of market borrowings has increased substantially, of late. During the one month up to October 25, the state will have borrowed Rs3,936 crore by issuing three SDLs.
While total borrowings on October 25 by 14 states /Union Territories add up to Rs27,200 crore, Maharashtra tops the chart as usual with Rs3,000 crore through the issue of 8-year securities.
The latest exercise will take the total market borrowings so far this financial year by Kerala up to Rs11,436 crore.
It’s yet to be seen whether the total market borrowings will touch the Rs9,000 crore-mark in the third quarter up to December 31, as envisaged by the borrowing calendar published by RBI.
Noticeably, state is now increasingly preferring longer-term maturities for its market borrowings, maybe as part of the strategy to elongate or decongest future redemptions.
While the September 27-issue was for 18 years, that of October 3 was for 26 years, and the latest one to be issued on October 25, raising Rs1,500 crore, is planned to be through the issue of 22-year paper.
