Budget 2024: Govt Sets Fiscal Deficit Target At 5.1 Per Cent Of GDP In FY25

Interim Budget: For 2023-24, the total receipts other than borrowings stood at Rs 27.56 lakh crore under the revised estimates. The receipts also included tax receipts worth Rs 23.24 lakh crore

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the interim Budget 2024 on Thursday and provided the revised Budget Estimates for the ongoing 2023-24 fiscal year. The Budget also included the Estimates for the forthcoming 204-25 fiscal year. She set the revised fiscal deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year at 5.8 per cent of the GDP, improving on the Budget Estimate, 'notwithstanding moderation in the nominal growth estimates'. The fiscal deficit target for the 2024-25 fiscal year has been set at 5.1 per cent of the GDP and the government intends to bring the deficit further lower below 4.5 per cent in the 2025-26 financial year, Sitharaman added.

Revised Estimates 2023-24

The total receipts other than borrowings stood at Rs 27.56 lakh crore under the revised estimates. The receipts also included tax receipts worth Rs 23.24 lakh crore. The total expenditure for the ongoing fiscal was estimated at Rs 44.90 lakh crore. 

Sitharaman further said that revenue receipts estimated at Rs 30.03 lakh crore are anticipated to be higher than the Budget Estimate, indicating a robust growth momentum and formalisation in the economy. 

Budget Estimates 2024-25

Regarding the upcoming 2024-25 fiscal year, the finance minister announced a lower fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent of the GDP. "We continue on the path of fiscal consolidation, as announced in my Budget Speech for 2021-22, to reduce the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. The fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP, adhering to that path," Sitharaman said. The total receipts excluding borrowings are estimated at Rs 30.80 lakh crore, while the total capital expenditure estimates stood at Rs 47.66 lakh crore.

The tax receipts for FY25 are estimated at Rs 26.02 lakh crore, the minister revealed. She added that the scheme to provide 50-year interest-free loans for capital expenditure to states will be continued in the year with a total outlay of Rs 1.3 lakh crore. 

The gross market borrowings through dated securities for FY25 are estimated at Rs 14.13 lakh crore, while net market borrowings for the period are set at Rs 11.75 lakh crore. The finance minister noted that the borrowings remained lower than that in the 2023-24 fiscal year. "Now that the private investments are happening at scale, the lower borrowings by the central government will facilitate larger availability of credit for the private sector," she stated.