Centre's Fiscal Deficit Touches 45.6 Per Cent Of Budget Target Till October

With the GDP numbers out, the deficit stood at 8.3 per cent of GDP in the first six months of FY23

In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was 36.3 per cent of the Budget estimates of 2021-22.

Source : Getty

The central government’s fiscal deficit touched 45.6 per cent of the Budget target in the first seven months of the current financial year, higher than 36.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the last year. With the GDP numbers out, the deficit stood at 8.3 per cent of GDP in the first six months of FY23.

According to experts, the deficit — a gap between the government’s expenditure and revenues — will overshoot in the current financial year by up to Rs 1 lakh crore. However, according to per cent of GDP, it may not surpass the Budget Estimates of 6.4 per cent or slow only slight slippage as the nominal GDP may overshoot the Budget assumption by up to Rs 22 lakh crore.

In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was 36.3 per cent of the Budget estimates of 2021-22.

The poor performance was receipts was largely down to non-tax revenue, which amounted to Rs 21,179 crore in October, down from Rs 46,486 crore in the corresponding month of last year.

Gross tax revenue was up 20.8 percent, and net tax collections 20.2 percent, at Rs 2.18 lakh crore and Rs 1.59 lakh crore, respectively.

On the expenditure side, capital expenditure more than doubled in October from a year ago to Rs 66,125 crore. For April-October as a whole, the Centre's total receipts stood at Rs 13.86 lakh crore, up 8.3 percent, while total expenditure was 17.4 percent higher at Rs 21.44 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 6.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the second quarter (Q2) of the current financial year (Q2FY23), latest data released by the the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Wednesday stated. The GDP had expanded by 8.4 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2021-22, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).