The government's borrowing programme for the current financial year ending March 2009 is likely to exceed the budget limit even as it has already raised nearly 80 per cent of the budgeted amount.

The return of prime minister Manmohan Singh to the finance ministry, who has taken additional charge for now, is likely to give a boost to the government's borrowing programme, say analysts.

Manmohan Singh as an ex-RBI governor is known for his risk appetite through his days at the Reserve Bank and the finance ministry and analysts expect him to take appropriate decisions, including a stepped-up borrowing programme, for meeting government spending, both on the plan and non-plan sides.

The government has already lined up an extra Rs105,000 crore in spending for the current financial year (April-March 2008-09), including Rs70,000 crore in farm debt waivers.

The government is expected to reach its annual borrowing limit with a planned auction of bonds worth Rs39,000 crore between October and mid-December, ie, the third quarter of the current fiscal year.

An extended borrowing programme would take the government's current year borrowing beyond the Rs145,000 crore budget limit, say analysts.

The problem with the Indian economy is that these risks – limits to borrowing, increasing capital outflows and declining exports – are all set to blunt the  country's reaction to the global financial meltdown, leaving an increasing role for the central bank.

However, the risks the economy face from a global financial downturn may weigh heavily on the prime ministers task.

It is also likely that instead of the prime minster taking all the responsibility, he may even hand over the finance ministry to another RBI veteran and the former chief of the prime minister's economic advisory council, C Rangarajan.