Since Apr-June (Q1) 2010-11, Public Debt Management Cell (PDMC), Budget Division, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance has been bringing out a quarterly report on debt management on a regular basis. The current report pertains to the quarter April-June (Q1 FY24).

During Q1 of FY24, the Central Government on issuance/settlement basis of dated securities raised gross amount worth ₹4,08,000 crore and ₹2,71,415 crore after adjusting for switches. The weighted average yield (WAY) of issuances during the quarter stood at 7.13% and it was 7.34% for Q4 FY23. The weighted average maturity (WAM) of the issuances worked out to 17.58 years for Q1 FY24 and 16.58 for Q4 FY23. The gross amount raised through 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury Bills during the quarter amounted to ₹4,96,266 crore while total repayments were ₹3,07,278 crore. During April-June 2023, the cash position of the Central Government remained in surplus mostly.

Total gross liabilities (including liabilities under the ‘Public Account’) of the Government, as per provisional data, increased marginally to ₹1,59,53,703 crore at end- June 2023 from ₹1,56,08,634 crore at end- March 2023. This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.2 per cent in Q1 FY24. Further, nearly 26.6 per cent of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years.

The yield on the 10-year benchmark security softened from 7.31% at the close of the quarter on March 31st , 2023 to 7.12% at the close on June 30th, 2023, thus softening by 19 bps during the quarter.

In secondary market, trading activities were concentrated in 7–10-year maturity bucket during the quarter mainly because of more trading observed in 10-year benchmark security. Private sector banks emerged as dominant trading segment in secondary market during the quarter under review with a share of 22.59 per cent in “Buy” deals and 25.00 per cent in “Sell” deals in the total outright trading activity, followed by foreign banks, public sector banks, primary dealers, and mutual fund. On a net basis, foreign banks, insurance companies, private sector banks and primary dealers were net sellers while public sector banks, co-operative banks, FIs, mutual funds and ‘Others’ were net buyers in the secondary market.

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Public debt management: issuance mix and yield/maturity shifts shape liability profile and secondary market participation. Quarterly public debt management for April-June FY24 reports central government financing via dated securities and Treasury Bills, noting a decline in weighted average yield and an increase in weighted average maturity of issuances; cash remained largely in surplus. Provisional total liabilities rose marginally quarter-on-quarter, a significant portion of dated securities had shorter residual maturities, and secondary market trading concentrated in the seven-to-ten-year bucket with distinct net buyer and seller patterns among market participants.