Govt's gross liabilities rise by 3.4% to Rs 171.78 lakh crore at March-end: Finance Ministry

New Delhi: Total gross liabilities of the Government increased to Rs 171.78 lakh crore at the end of March 2024 from Rs 166.14 lakh crore at December-end, the Ministry of Finance has said.

This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023-24, said the public debt management quarterly report (January-March, 2024).

Public debt accounted for 90.2 percent of total gross liabilities during the quarter, it said.

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"During the quarter, the yield on Indian domestic bond softened on account of lower than anticipated borrowing plan announced in interim budget, adjustment of the fiscal deficit to 5.1 percent of the GDP for FY'25, a targeted reduction of the fiscal deficit at or below 4.5 percent by FY26, FPI inflows and steady inflation," it said.

On the other hand, it said, US treasury yields remained volatile during the quarter mostly affected by Federal Reserve action, inflation, and employment data.

US 10-year yields touched a high of 4.33 percent during the quarter.

The weighted average yield softened to 7.19 percent in Q4 2023-24 relative to 7.37 percent in Q3 2023-24 on new issuance, it said.

Further, it said, the weighted average maturity of issuances of dated securities moderated to 18.75 years in Q4 2023-24 (18.80 years in Q3 2023-24).

The weighted average maturity of outstanding stock of dated securities increased to 12.54 years at the end of Q4 of 2023-24 relative to 12.52 years at the end of Q3 of 2023-24, it said.

The ownership pattern of central government securities indicates that the share of commercial banks surged to 37.7 percent at end-March 2024 as compared to 36.6 percent in March 2023, it said.

Further, it said, the share of insurance companies remained constant at 26.0 percent in March 2024 whereas FPIs' share improved to 2.3 percent at end March 2024 relative to 1.4 percent in March 2023.

The share of RBI continued to decline to 12.3 percent at the end of March 2024 relative to 14.3 percent during the corresponding period previous year, it added.

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