After much dilly-dallying, the finance ministry on Wednesday said it will take away from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the powers to manage public debt or government borrowings in about two years and has set up a cell for an interim period to smoothen the transition so that markets do not witness disruptions. The move is in line with steps announced by the government recently such as inflation targeting and setting up of Monetary Policy Committee to streamline the functioning of RBI. The Public Debt Management Cell (PDMC), to be housed at RBIs Delhi office, will be upgraded to a statutory Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) in "about two years", the ministry said in a circular. PDMC would have only advisory functions to avoid conflict with statutory functions of RBI, the circular said. The cell has been tasked with planning government borrowings, including market and other borrowings, like sovereign gold bond issuance. Other functions of PDMC are managing governm