The Finance Ministry has set up a Public Debt Management Cell (PDMC) with a view to streamline government borrowings and better cash management with the overall objective of deepening bond markets.

• The PDMC, to be housed at the RBI’s Delhi office, is an interim arrangement and will be upgraded to a statutory Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) in “about two years”.
• The transition process from PDMC to PDMA would be implemented by a joint implementation committee (JIC) would operate under the supervision of the Monitoring Group on Cash and Debt Management with DEA Secretary and RBI Deputy Governor as co-chairpersons.
• The PDMC would be staffed by 15 debt managers from Budget Division, RBI, current Middle Office and other government units.
• PDMC has been tasked to plan government borrowings, including market borrowings and other borrowings, like Sovereign Gold Bond issuance. Other function of the PDMC is to manage government’s liabilities, monitor cash balances, improve cash forecasting, and foster a liquid and efficient market for government securities.
• It will also advise government on matters related to investment, capital market operations, administration of interest rates on small savings, among others. Further, it will undertake requisite preparatory work for PDMA.
• PDMC has also been asked to develop an Integrated Debt Database System (IDMS) as a centralized data base for all liabilities of government, on a near real time basis. IDMC would be an integral part of PDMC.