Fiscal Deficit Touches 60% Of Full-Year Budget Estimate At December-End, Shows Finance Ministry Data

In the current fiscal year, the Central government had budgeted a fiscal deficit of Rs 16.61 lakh crore or 6.4 per cent of the GDP

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget for the next financial year on Wednesday.

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India’s fiscal deficit by the end of December touched 59.8 per cent of the full year Budget estimates (BE), according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday. As per the data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), under the finance ministry, the fiscal deficit was Rs 9.92 lakh crore during the April-December period of 2022-23.

This was mainly on the account of subdued growth in revenue collections. As per the CGA data, the net tax revenue collection at Rs 15.55 lakh crore was 80.4 per cent of the Budget estimates for 2022-23. During the corresponding period of 2021-22, the net tax revenue was 95.4 per cent of that year's Budget estimates. 

Non-tax revenue was at Rs 2.14 lakh crore or 79.5 per cent of BE. In the last fiscal, the collection by December was 106.7 per cent of BE. 

The central government's total receipts, including non-tax revenue, stood at Rs 18.25 lakh crore or 79.9 per cent of the current year's BE. In the year-ago period, the total receipts had touched 89.1 per cent of BE 2021-22, as per data. 

In the current fiscal year, the Central government had budgeted a fiscal deficit of Rs 16.61 lakh crore or 6.4 per cent of the GDP.

According to a Goldman Sachs report, the government will have no trouble reaching its goal for the current fiscal year's fiscal deficit. Given that the GDP is consistently growing, it is anticipated that the BE for the fiscal deficit in the fiscal year 2024 will be lower than the target of the present fiscal. 

According to the reports, the government would set the Budget deficit objective for the upcoming fiscal year at 5.8–5.9 per cent.

This reduction will be backed by a decline in food and fertilizer subsidies, the report said. Goldman Sachs said that the withdrawal of the free food plan will likely reduce the subsidy bill to 0.8 per cent of GDP, while fertilizer subsidy will reduce to 0.5 per cent of the GDP. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget for the next financial year on Wednesday.