According to the latest available figures, the Government during April-May had garnered Rs 23,445.95 crore from the market. This works out to be about 41 per cent of Rs 57,461.32 crore the Government scheduled to raise from market during the fiscal.

During the corresponding period in the last financial year (April-May 1998), the Government had raised Rs 16,223.93 crore which amounted to 34 per cent of the total borrowings from the market.

In the current financial year, the Government had decided to restrict the market borrowing to Rs 57,461.32 crore, against Rs 62,004.31 crore raised during the previous year.

For Government, finance ministry sources said, "It makes sense to borrow more from the market at a time when the interest rates are low and demand for credit from the industry issubdued."

Sources also indicated that bulk of the borrowing programme would be completed during the slack season as the demand from industry was likely to grow during the other half of the fiscal.

The accelerated market borrowing programme, on the other hand had limited Government's recourse to the ways and means advances. At the end of May 1999, Government recourse to ways and means advances amounted to Rs 2,224 crore which was significantly lees that Rs 7,145 crore during the corresponding period in the last financial year. The Government during in current financial year is expected to raise a total of Rs 79,995.78 crore to fund the deficit. This include Rs 845.11 crore of external financing. Out of total, as much as Rs 22,011.40 crore has been raised during the first two months of the fiscal.

On the external front, there has been a net outflow of Rs 384.55 crore during the first two months. Things on the external front, sources hoped, were likely to look up during the later part of the year with theUS expected to withdraw sanctions imposed on India in the aftermath of the nuclear explosions at Pokharan last year. During 1998-99, the external funding was on of the order of Rs 959.70 crore against the budget target of Rs 2,337 crore.

The shortfall in inflow from external sector and other areas had to be made good through high market borrowings which shot up to Rs 62,004.31 crore against the budget estimates of Rs 48,326 crore. For the current year, the union budget took credit of only Rs 845.11 crore as external assistance.