Tax buoyancy curtails Centre's fiscal deficit to an eight-year low

Centre's spending showed volatile trend during April-June period

India’s fiscal deficit in the first quarter of 2021-22 stood at 18.2 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) against 83.2 per cent in the same period last year. This is less than half of last fiscal year’s level of Rs 6.6 trillion recorded during the pandemic induced-lockdown.

The controller general of accounts data showed the government received Rs 5.47 trillion (27.7 per cent of the corresponding BE 2021-22 of total receipts) up to June. This comprises Rs 4.12 trillion of tax revenues, Rs 1.27 trillion of non-tax revenues, and Rs 7,402 crore of non-debt capital receipts.

The expenditure incurred by the