To raise Rs2000 cr on Nov 1 through 23-yr debt securities
BBN Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/October 29-2022: Kerala is fast switching to longer term securities while raising debt from the market with the latest state development loans (SDLs) set to hit the market on November 1 to be of 23-year maturity.
Kerala seeks to raise Rs2,000 crore on Tuesday (Nov 01) taking the total market borrowings during the current financial year – 2022-23, to Rs13,436 crore.
This aggregate amount so far raised through the issue of SDLs during the current financial year at Rs11,436 crore is 40 per cent lower compared with Rs19,000 crore the state had raised until October 05 last financial year, when the government raised Rs27,000 crore in total.
The government seems to be meticulously pushing the maturities farther by issuing state development loans (SDLs) or debt securities of longer term, even at 20 years plus tenures, unlike in the previous year.
This will help the government derive relief while redeeming these securities as they would come up for repayment much later than otherwise.
Having said that, Kerala had issued SDLs of 30 years and 35 years too, though once each, during the last financial year.
The market borrowing though said to have faced resistance from the Central Government in the initial months, thanks to the off-balance sheet borrowings by the state through other government owned entities, the state has been permitted to increase the frequency of borrowing in the past two or three months.
Including the November 1 borrowing, the state will have executed four borrowings in a span of five weeks raising Rs5,936 crore.
