Cost of States Borrowing Up at 7.96%

A recent report has shown that the cost of states borrowing up at 7.96% this fiscal. Due to rising interest rate, states are paying higher for market borrowings with the weighted average cost for debt for the first time hitting 7.96 per cent, up 7 bps from last week. Similarly, as much as 71 per cent of the debt issuances was in longer tenors more than 10 years, thus increasing the weighted average tenor to 15 years, rating agency ICRA said.

Nine states raised Rs 12,800 crore from state development loan auctions, which is 17 per cent lower than the indicated amount, wherein the weighted average cut-off rose by 7 bps to 7.96 per cent, but the spread between the 10-year SDL and G-secs narrowed to 39 bps from 42 bps last week, as most of the auction was in longer tenors, the agency said.