With an aim to contain the fiscal target at 4.1% of GDP for current fiscal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asserted that the government will come out with more measures to rationalise subsidies. Finance Minister stressed that a series of meeting with the Expenditure Management Commission (EMC) has been taking place and the Commission is effectively working on some very valuable suggestions with regard to rationalisation of subsidies.
Highlighting the government’s latest decisions, the minister added latest decision to link the diesel prices with market price and direct cash subsidy on pilot basis to LPG customers in select cities will help in reducing the subsidy burden of the government. Furthermore, the Centre had set up a Commission under former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan to suggest steps to lessen subsidy and help the government in effectively bringing down the fiscal deficit. On revenue collection front, the minister expressed hope that the government will able to achieve the direct tax collection target. To garner more funds, the government has initiated its disinvestment programme with latest SAIL's stake sale. It has set a target of Rs 43,425 crore through selling stakes in various PSU firms during the current fiscal.
The government’s fiscal deficit for the first seven months of this financial year recorded at Rs 4.76 lakh crore, a staggering 89.6% of the target of Rs 5.31 lakh crore for the entire financial year. The fiscal deficit for the April-October period this year was the highest since at least 1998-99 and for the corresponding period of 2013-14, the fiscal deficit was stood at 84.4% of the FY14 target.
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