The central government plans to borrow Rs 8.45 trillion from the bond markets in the first half (April-September) of FY2022-23 to fund the revenue gap for reviving the economy, the finance ministry said. This will be around 59 per cent of the lowered full-year gross borrowing target of Rs 14.31 trillion.

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“The borrowing is scheduled to be completed in 26 weekly tranches of Rs 32,000-33,000 crore. The borrowing will be spread under 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 30, and 40-year securities (G-secs) and floating-rate bonds of various tenors,” the ministry said.

At 59 per cent of the full-year target, the borrowing in the first half of FY23 will be slightly less front-loaded than in previous years. The norm has been to borrow 60-63 per cent in the past few years.

The Centre had borrowed 60.6 per cent of its FY22 debt target in the first half of the year. In FY21, the government had announced it would borrow 62.6 per cent in the first half before the borrowing plan was expanded due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In FY20, the share was 62.25 per cent.

The gross borrowing target for FY23, as announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget, was Rs 14.95 trillion. It has been revised downwards due to Rs 63,500-crore switch operations by the Reserve Bank of India last month. As a percentage of the original target, the borrowing in H1FY23 would have been 56 per cent.