Going easy on loans: FM brings transparency in off-budget borrowings

Does away with loans from National Small Savings Fund to Food Corporation of India

The government has brought further transparency in the fiscal deficit numbers by doing away with loans from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) from the next financial year.

The government will provide Rs 2.54 trillion to FCI in the next financial year, wiping out its arrears. So far, the government used to give loans from NSSF to FCI, which did not account for the government expenditure.

For instance, it pegged this loan to FCI at close to over Rs 84,000 crore in the current financial year, which in fact was over Rs 60,000 crore lower