India keeps borrowing plan unchanged for second half; introduces 50-yr bond

By Nikunj Ohri and Sarita Chaganti Singh

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's government said on Tuesday that it had maintained its plans to borrow 6.55 trillion rupees ($78.72 billion) through bond issues in the October-March period and has introduced a new security with a 50-year maturity.

India has projected gross market borrowing at 15.43 trillion rupees for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, of which 8.88 trillion rupees would be borrowed between April and September.

The borrowing will be done through bonds with maturities of three, five, seven, 10, 14, 30 and 40 years.

India plans to raise 300 billion rupees through the newly introduced 50-year bond, the statement said.

"There are several investors who are interested in longer term paper..This is an indication that there is strong confidence in the economy," India's Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth told reporters after the plan was announced.

The government must have opted to issue a 50-year security looking at demand from long-term investors such as pension funds and insurance companies, said VRC Reddy, treasury head at Karur Vysya Bank.

The borrowing plan for the second-half of the fiscal year will include green bond issues worth 200 billion rupees, including a new 30-year security, it said.

It plans to borrow between 300 billion and 390 billion rupees a week in the second half of the fiscal year.

Since 2019, the Indian government's borrowings have risen to fund a widening fiscal deficit due to record social spending during the pandemic.

The government is targeting a fiscal deficit of 5.9% for the current year, lower than 6.4% last year.

"Overall commitment to stick to the fiscal deficit number announced, absolutely remains," Seth said.

The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the Ways and Mean Advances, which are temporary advances given by the central bank to governments to tide over any financing gaps, for the Oct-March period at 500 billion rupees, the government said.

The government will continue to carry out switch operations to smooth the redemption profile, it said. Below is the list of borrowing in billion rupees through various tenors in this fiscal:

Tenor Apr-Sep Tenor Oct-Mar

3-year 560 3-year 400

5-year 1040 5-year 700

7-year 910 7-year 600

10-year 1820 10-year 1450

14-year 1560 14-year 1000

30-year 1430 30-year 700

40-year 1560 40-year 1200

50-year 300

Green bonds 200

Total 8880 6550

($1 = 83.2070 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Dharam Dhutia in Mumbai; Writing by Shivangi Acharya, editing by Ed Osmond, Anil D'Silva and Sharon Singleton)