India's fiscal deficit reaches 94% of the budget estimate in December

NEW DELHI: Fiscal deficit in the first nine months of 2016-17 touched 93.9 per cent of the Budget target against 87.9 per cent for the same period a year ago.

In value terms, the April-December fiscal deficit stood at Rs 5.01 lakh crore, or 93.9 per cent, of 2016-17 Budget estimates (BE). The fiscal deficit stood at 87.9 per cent in the corresponding nine months a year ago, as per 2015-16 BE.

Fiscal deficit, the gap between expenditure and revenue for the entire fiscal, has been pegged at Rs 5.33 lakh crore, or 3.5 per cent of the GDP, for the fiscal 2016-17.


As per data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), tax revenue came in at Rs 7.52 lakh crore, or 71.4 per cent of the full-year BE of Rs 10.54 lakh crore.

Total receipts from revenue and non-debt capital of the government during the period read Rs 9.68 lakh crore or 67.1 per cent of BE.

The government's Plan expenditure during the fiscal came in at Rs 4.10 lakh core, 74.6 per cent of the full-year budget estimate. During the same period last year, it stood at 74.4 per cent.

The Non-Plan expenditure in April-December of 2016-17 was Rs 10.59 lakh crore, or 74.2 per cent, of the whole-year estimate.

The total expenditure (Plan and Non-Plan) was Rs 14.69 lakh crore, 74.3 per cent of the government's full-year estimate of Rs 19.78 lakh crore.

The revenue deficit during April-December stood at Rs 3.54 lakh crore, or 100.1 per cent of BE for 2016-17.