Lower tax revenues and poor disinvestment receipts have pushed up the government's fiscal deficit for 2011-12 to 5.9% of the GDP, as against the target of 4.6%.
For the 2012-13 fiscal starting April 1, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has pegged the fiscal deficit target of 5.1%.
"The combined effect of lower tax and disinvestment receipts and higher expenditure, mainly on account of subsidies, has pushed the fiscal deficit to 5.9% of GDP in the Revised Estimates for 2011-12," Mukherjee said in the Budget 2012-13 proposals today.
"However, I have made a determined attempt to come back to the path of fiscal consolidation in the Budget for 2012-13 by pegging the fiscal deficit at Rs 5,13,590 crore which is 5.1% of GDP," he said.
After taking into account other items of financing, the net market borrowings through dated securities to finance this deficit is Rs 4.79 lakh crore, Mukherjee said.
The total debt stock at the end of 2012-13 would work out at 45.5% of GDP as compared to the Thirteenth Finance Commission target of 50.5% of GDP, he added.
Due to slower economic growth, direct tax collection fell short by Rs 32,000 crore of the Budget Estimates. Besides, the government would be able to garner just about Rs 14,000 crore from disinvestment as against a target of Rs 40,000 crore for 2011-12.