Mein, who also holds the Finance, Planning and Investment portfolios, said the budget estimate is pegged at Rs 35,840.79 crore, a 20.85-per cent increase over the 2023-24 figure.
The federal budget released Tuesday targeted a smaller fiscal deficit for this year on the back of a record dividend from the Reserve Bank of India
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This is 20 basis points lower than 5.1 per cent announced in the interim budget
Government is expected to reduce its deficit target slightly from the 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product projected before the elections
The current government, right from 2014, has shown an inclination to maintain fiscal discipline, he says
The economists said the fiscal deficit target for 2024-25 could be slightly lowered, from the 5.1 per cent estimate laid out in the Interim Budget earlier this year
Government intervention during the pandemic seemed conscious of the fact that India's fiscal position was not very strong at the beginning of the crisis
The government had pegged the fiscal deficit estimate at 5.1 per cent for the current fiscal year when it presented the interim Budget in February
Expectations (as measured by pre-budget equity market performance), wrote analysts at Morgan Stanley in a note, are important in determining what the market does immediately after the budget
However, this path may not be as easy for the government to tread
It added that the Centre is likely to retain the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent for 2024-25 with a possibility of a downward revision of 10 basis points
The central government estimates to bring down fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal, from 5.63 per cent in 2023-24
Analysis of fiscal trends since 1991 reveals that full Budgets typically reduce fiscal and revenue deficits set in interim budgets, with notable exceptions during economic crises and major reforms
The fiscal deficit in the corresponding period last year was 11.8 per cent of the budget estimates at Rs 2.1 trillion
Fiscal deficit at Rs 50,615 crore in April-May FY25, according to CGA data
Fiscal expenditure rose 3.4 per cent in the first five months, versus a 3.5 per cent gain in the first four months