Fiscal clarity needed

India needs medium-term targets

The Union government did well to partly use the improved revenue position to project a lower fiscal deficit for this financial year. It will now target containing the fiscal deficit at 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) this financial year compared to the target of 5.1 per cent announced in the Interim Budget. The government is following a glide path announced in 2021 to bring down the fiscal deficit to below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26. It is on course to attain the target next year. In this context, financial markets and analysts