Indian government debt jumped 3.6%

The government's debt in the July-September period in this financial year grew by 3.6 per cent to Rs 39,00,386 crore from Rs 37,63,264 crore in the previous quarter.
The total public debt (excluding liabilities that are not classified under public debt) of the Government had grown by 5.2 per cent in April-June quarter. "This represented a Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) increase of 3.6 per cent (provisional) compared with an increase of 5.2 per cent in the previous quarter (Q1 of FY13)," the Quarterly Report on Debt Management released by the Finance Ministry said. Internal debt in July-September quarter constituted 90.4 per cent of public debt, compared with 89.6 per cent at the end of June. The internal debt at Rs 35,27,405 crore constituted 34.7 per cent of GDP. It was 33.2 per cent at end-June 2012.
During the second quarter of the fiscal, liquidity conditions in the economy remained generally tight, though the deficit was within the Reserve Bank's stated comfort zone of about one per cent of Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) of scheduled commercial banks.
The net amount provided under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) operations, the report added, witnessed some oscillations during the quarter. It further said that the cash position of the government during the second quarter was generally comfortable and remained in positive territory for a major part of the period
under review. Gross tax collections during the April-August at 26.4 per cent of budget estimates were higher than 25.8 per cent a year ago.
In the direct taxes, collections from corporation tax and personal income tax at Rs 64,900 crore and Rs 58,249 crore, respectively, showed healthy growth rates of 25.8 per cent and 30.3 per cent against 13.9 per cent growth rate budgeted for each during FY13. Among the major indirect taxes, growth in collections
from customs and excise duties decelerated to 3.4 per cent and 10.8 per cent, respectively, against budgeted growth rates of 22.0 per cent and 29.1 per cent. However, service tax collections increased by 33.5 per
cent during April-August 2012-13 as against BE growth rate of 30.5 per cent.