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| While Finance Minister Jaswant Singh had set a fiscal deficit target of 5.6 per cent of the gross domestic product in the Budget this year, the deficit touched Rs 85,978 crore or 3.14 per cent of the GDP. by the end of October.
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| The total expenditure of the Centre, according to the latest figures released by the Controller General of Accounts today, is Rs 2,53,770 crore is almost 58 per cent of the budgeted target. The comparable figure for 2002-03 was 47.4 per cent.
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| Of the total expenditure, plan expenditure is Rs 60,301 crore or 49.8 per cent of the Budget estimate.
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| But it is the non-plan expenditure, comprising mainly subsidies, defence spend, interest payments, and wages and pension, which has really shot up.
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| The expenditure figures show that Singh cannot wish away the fiscal deficit as a result of the past interest liability of the Centre.
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| Interest repayments are well on track, at the same level as last year, but the expenditure on non-Plan revenue account has risen to over 52 per cent of the Budget target. Last year, it was 50 per cent of the target till October.
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| The gross tax receipts between April and October stood at Rs 1,12,363, of which Rs 31,772 crore has been transferred to states as per the devolution formula, which is the same as last year.
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| Gross income-tax collections in the same period were almost flat at Rs 17,359 crore compared with Rs 17,059 crore during the corresponding period last year. Excise mop-up at Rs 41,229 crore was just Rs 28 crore more than the collections up to October 2002.
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| A finance ministry official said the higher expenditure and fiscal deficit were on account of a shortfall in revenue collections and an increase in the subsidy bill.
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