India’s fiscal deficit for the first five months of this fiscal year through August stood at 6.43 lakh crore rupees, or 36% of annual estimates, government data showed today.
The fiscal deficit widened from 32.6% reported in the comparable year-earlier period.
Total receipts stood at 10.29 lakh crore rupees, while overall expenditure in April to August was at 16.72 lakh crore rupees. They were 37.9% and 37.1% of this fiscal year’s budget target.
Revenue receipts stood at 10.14 lakh crore rupees, of which tax revenue was 8.04 lakh crore rupees and non-tax revenue was 2.10 lakh crore rupees.
Tax and non-tax revenues were 34.5% and 69.5% of the budgeted estimate. While tax revenue was narrower than 36.2% of budget estimate in the last fiscal year, non-tax revenue swelled from 43.3% of budget forecast in the same period last year.
Non-tax revenue spiked as the Reserve Bank of India approved the transfer of Rs 87,416 crore as surplus to the central government.
Revenue deficit was at 28.44 lakh crore rupees or 32.7% of the fiscal year’s budget target, data showed.
While announcing the federal budget for this fiscal year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India aims to narrow the fiscal gap to 5.9% of gross domestic product from 6.4% in the last financial year.
The wider fiscal deficit comes amid mushrooming speculations that the Narendra Modi-led government, which is seeking to return to power for the third term after Lok Sabha elections next year, will soon have to unleash various fiscal measures and particularly so as to rein in galloping inflation rate.
On the expenditure side, New Delhi spent about 1.81 trillion rupees on major subsidies such as food, fertilisers and petroleum. This was 48% of the revised annual aim, tad wider than 43% of budgeted expenditure in the comparable period last year.
