India's fiscal deficit has touched 74 percent of the annual target as on end-October, even as tax revenue is below the half-way mark, as per the latest official estimates of the central government accounts released on Monday.
As per the Controller General of Accounts, as opposed to a fiscal deficit target of Rs.555,649 crore, the actual number has been Rs.411,246 crore. The fiscal deficit represents the total expenditure, minus the total receipts.
The government has targeted a fiscal deficit of 3.9 percent of GDP for the this fiscal.
The total receipts during the period under review has been Rs.610,374 crore, against the budget amount for the full fiscal year of Rs.1,221,828 crore, representing an achievement of 50 percent.
The CGA data revealed that the total expenditure during the first seven months of the fiscal stood at Rs.1,021,620 crore, which is 57.5 percent of the budgetary target of Rs.1,777,477 crore.
Furthermore, the data disclosed that the revenue deficit during the period under review stood at Rs.287,553 crore, which was 72.9 percent of the budget estimate of Rs.394,472 crore.
