PANAJI
After staying away from open market borrowings for the first five months of the current financial year, the State government has made its first borrowing through the market, raising Rs 100 crore through the auction of State securities on Tuesday.
As per the daily borrowing data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the State raised Rs 100 crore on September 8 through the auction of government securities, marking its first market borrowing of 2026-27.
The borrowing comes despite the government’s earlier assertion that it had reduced its dependence on open market borrowings as part of its efforts towards fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability. As per the RBI’s indicative borrowing calendar for April-June 2026, Goa had proposed to raise Rs 200 crore in April, Rs 400 crore in May and Rs 300 crore in June through State Development Loan (SDL) issuances. However, the State did not undertake any market borrowing until August 31. During the recently concluded Assembly session, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that the government had stopped relying on open market borrowings and was focusing on fiscal discipline, revenue mobilisation and debt management. The State’s borrowing ceiling for the current financial year has been fixed at Rs 3,700 crore. The government has, meanwhile, repaid Rs 1,103 crore towards principal and interest from its own revenue resources so far.
Goa faces repayment liabilities estimated at around Rs 5,320 crore during the current financial year. Of this, around Rs 1,320 crore is towards maturing government securities, while nearly Rs 4,000 crore is towards interest payments on State Development Loans and other internal borrowings.
The State had also kept its market borrowing well below the permissible limit in the previous financial year. Against an approved borrowing ceiling of Rs 4,500 crore for 2025-26, Goa borrowed only Rs 1,250 crore.
