Budget 2018: Traders wary of Jaitley's fiscal math as bond losses persist

Bond traders in India are skeptical about the government’s efforts to fund a wider-than-estimated budget deficit, with Morgan Stanley and ICICI Securities Primary Dealership Limited seeing no immediate relief for a market battered by the worst selloff in two decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in Thursday’s union budget said it will aim for a budget shortfall of 3.3 per cent in the year starting on April 1, wider than its previous goal of 3 per cent. Debt sales of 4.62 trillion rupees ($72 billion) will help fund 74 per cent of the gap, with asset sales and Treasury-bill auctions contributing