Govt to raise Rs. 400 crore from open market

PUDUCHERRY: The government will be raising a loan of Rs.400 crore from open market to meet the finance for its budgetary requirements, said Finance Secretary and Development Commissioner Raajiv Yaduvanshi in a statement on Wednesday. The auction would be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India on February 21 at Mumbai.  The government had planned to raise Rs. 600 crore though open market borrowings as per the budget presented by the chief minister on August 24, 2011. However, with a debt burden of Rs. 4400 crore and the economic growth of State Gross Domestic Product not reaching 14 per cent as indicated in the budget, the Puducherry government did not get the approval of Central government to raise the required loan. However, now the approval has been granted at the fag end of the financial year on request by the chief minister after he showed the government’s commitment to enhance revenue by raising VAT on Jan 1 this year.Finalisation of draft budget  proposals The state planning board will meet on February 20 to discuss and finalise the Draft Annual Plan  proposals  for 2013-2014. The meeting would be chaired by  lieutenant governor Iqbal Singh and is expected to be attended by the chief minister, members of parliament from Puducherry and other members of the board. Already the planning department has obtained proposals  from various government departments. It would be sent to the members of the board shortly, said director of planning S Kanagasabai, in a circular on Tuesday.