The Centre, which had managed to arrest its worsening finances in September, again slipped in October with the fiscal deficit touching 54.5 per cent of the full year target for 2001-02.
Fiscal deficit represents the excess of total expenditure of the government over its total receipts.
The fiscal deficit target for the current year is 4.7 per cent of the gross domestic product and for the first seven months, it stood at Rs 63,383 crore or 2.56 per cent of GDP. During April-October last financial year, the fiscal deficit had not even crossed the half-way mark and stood at Rs 50,899 crore or 45.7 per cent of the target.
However, if the expenditure of Rs 3,439 crore arising out of the two additional demands for grants is considered, the total expenditure of the government will go up to Rs 3,78,662 crore. The fiscal deficit too will correspondingly go up.
Though direct taxes were buoyant in October, the total revenue receipts during April-October, at Rs 99,046 crore, accounted for just 42.7 per cent of the year's target. The net revenue receipts (less transfer to states and refunds) were just over one-third or 36 per cent of the Rs 1,63,031 crore target for the full year.
While the tax collections have remained subdued, the Centre's performance on curtailing unproductive expenditure has also not been anything to talk home about. While the total expenditure till October end stood at Rs 1,72,400 crore or 45.9 per cent of the year's target, almost 72 per cent of it was on non-Plan expenditure. Even on the Plan front, expenditure on the revenue account showed an increase compared to the corresponding figure in the previous year.
Of the Rs 45,774 crore Plan expenditure incurred till October, expenditure on the revenue account itself was over 60 per cent. There was substantial capital expenditure in October of almost Rs 3,700 crore. The April-October capital expenditure hence looked better at 52.3 per cent of the year's budget estimates of Rs 34,875 crore. In the corresponding period last year, it was 48.6 per cent of the capital expenditure target of Rs 35,770 crore.
