Budget 2018: Arun Jaitley deviates from fiscal consolidation road map

At 3.3 per cent of GDP, FY19 target up from 3 per cent earlier

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has chosen to deviate from the path of fiscal consolidation by budgeting the fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 at 3.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) as against the target of 3 per cent set earlier under the fiscal consolidation road map. This will be the second straight deviation from the glided path of fiscal consolidation. 

For 2017-18, as against a budgeted target of 3.2 per cent, the fiscal deficit now stands at 3.5 per cent. This slippage is largely because of lower revenue receipts (non-tax revenue) and higher revenue expenditure. 

As against a budgeted target