Every Indian to have debt of Rs 30,000 by March 2010

17 Feb 2009, 1900 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Viewed from an angle, the average debt of every Indian has been estimated to soar to about Rs 30,000 in about a year with the government stepping up it borrowing programme in the next fiscal to fund public expenditure and stimulate the economy.

The average debt of a citizen would nearly be equal to his 10-month income, which on an annual basis has recently been estimated at Rs 38,000 by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) for a population of 115.4 crore.

With the government adding about Rs 3,00,000 crore to the public debt annually in the last few years, the total public debt is estimated to zoom to a whooping Rs 34,06,322 crore by March 2010, nearly double the amount recorded seven years ago.

In order to fight the impact of the global financial meltdown on the Indian economy, the government substantially increased its market borrowing programme in 2008-09.

According to budget papers, as against the target of Rs 1,00,000 crore, the government would end up raising Rs 2,62,000 crore during 2008-09, more than two and a half times the original estimate.

Part of the increase in borrowings can be attributed to the stimulus packages raising expenditure and reducing revenues through slashing duties.

For the next fiscal, the government has pegged the market borrowing target at over Rs 3,00,000 crore, which is expected to be revised upwards at the time of the regular budget in July.

India's public debt includes market borrowings, external debt and other liabilities like small savings and provident funds.

Funds raised through market borrowing programmes and issuing treasury bills account for a major portion of the public debt.

Of the total of Rs 34 lakh crore, about Rs 22.7 lakh crore will be internal debt, the amount raised through the borrowing programme.

The external debt, which comprises funds raised from multilateral and bilateral lending agencies, is expected to be about Rs 1.38 lakh crore by the end of March 2010, while the other liabilities will account for the remaining Rs 10 lakh crore.