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

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 finance ministry has said.

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

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

"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 per cent of the GDP for FY25, a targeted reduction of the fiscal deficit at or below 4.5 per cent 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 per cent during the quarter.

The weighted average yield softened to 7.19 per cent in Q4 2023-24 relative to 7.37 per cent 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 per cent at end-March 2024 as compared to 36.6 per cent in March 2023, it said.

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

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