indo-asian news service, New Delhi, June 30: India’s fiscal deficit in the first two months (April-May) of the current financial year touched Rs208,624cr, or 37.5 per cent of the target for the current fiscal, official data showed Tuesday. This compares with the deficit of 45.3 percent during the same period a year ago.
The fiscal deficit for the full fiscal 2015-16 has been estimated at Rs555,000cr, or 3.9 percent of the GDP.
The government’s tax revenue for the period was Rs19,889cr or 2.2 per cent of the estimate, data from the Controller General of Accounts showed. Total receipts (from revenue and non-debt capital) during the two months in question was Rs54,207cr or 4.4 per cent of the estimates. Total expenditure of the government during April-May was Rs262,000cr or 14.8 per cent of the full year’s estimates.
The revenue deficit during April-May was over Rs172,000cr or 43.8 per cent of the estimates. The government last month said it had managed to improve on its target for containing the fiscal and revenue deficits in the 2014-15 fiscal.
“As a result of prudent policies and commitment to fiscal consolidation, fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP is 4.0 percent as against the RE (revised estimate) of 4.1 percent (4.4 percent for the previous 2013-14),” the finance ministry said in a statement.
Regarding receipts, the government said gross tax collections at Rs12,45,037cr for the last fiscal had shown a growth of 9 per cent (Rs.1,06,303cr) as compared to fiscal 2013-14. The gross tax collections is 9.8 per cent of GDP, it added.
