On the back of a boost in capital expenditure (capex) by the government, India’s fiscal deficit in the first four months of the current fiscal stood at 69.3% of the FY16 target compared to that of 61.2% same period last fiscal, according to the government data. The fiscal deficit came in at Rs 3.85 lakh crore for April-July period, while the deficit estimated in the Budget for the full year is Rs 5.56 lakh crore.
The Revenue deficit during the four months was over Rs 3.05 lakh crore, or 77.6% of the estimate. Further, the April-July net tax collection was Rs 1.54 lakh crore, which is 16.7% of the estimate for the full year. In the corresponding period last fiscal, the net tax revenue stood at 15% of that year’s target. Meanwhile, total expenditure of the government during April-July was nearly Rs 6 lakh crore, or 33.8% of the Budget estimate (BE) for the full year compared to 28.1% in the same period last year. Of the total expenditure, plan spending was over Rs 1.57 lakh crore and non-plan was over Rs 4.43 lakh crore.
For the 2015-16 fiscal, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to Rs 5.56 lakh crore, or 3.9% of the GDP. The fiscal deficit was Rs 5.01 lakh crore, or 4% of GDP, in 2014-15, down from 4.1% pegged in the revised estimate. Fiscal deficit is the difference between government revenue and expenditure and is expressed as a percentage of GDP.