True, our constitution enables Parliamentary legislation relating to a ceiling on debt. The Ministry of Finance is due to bring out a Discussion Paper on this. Let me not pre-empt its content. But, clearly the new system has merits of its own and will co-exist more effectively with a ceiling on debt.
It has merits in itself since it seeks to limit the extent of the RBI’s support. Technically, there is nothing to stop the Government from accessing all the debt within the ceiling from the RBI if the new system did not exist. A ceiling on debt provides a constraint on the broader issue of debt management and impinges on fiscal policy more directly.