Fiscal deficit for April-August at 32.6% of full-year estimate
The government's fiscal deficit at the end of August was 32.6% of the full year estimate, in line with 31.1% deficit last year during the same period. In absolute terms the fiscal deficit for April-August was ₹5.41 lakh crore.
By ET Bureau | Updated:
BCCL
The Centre's fiscal situation remained comfortable, with robust tax revenues taking care of the additional expenditure on account of increased subsidy payouts, data released on Friday showed.
The government's fiscal deficit at the end of August was 32.6% of the full year estimate, in line with 31.1% deficit last year during the same period. In absolute terms the fiscal deficit for April-August was ₹5.41 lakh crore.
The Centre Thursday cut its market borrowing for FY23 by ₹10,000 crore despite a three-month extension to the free food grain scheme, which will cost the exchequer an additional ₹44,762 crore, indicating a comfortable fiscal situation.
The fiscal deficit, the gap between revenues and spending, is met with borrowing. The Centre has pegged its fiscal deficit for FY23 at ₹16.6 lakh crore, or 6.4% of GDP.
As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the government's total receipts, including taxes, stood at ₹8.48 lakh crore, or 37.2 % of the FY23 estimates, a growth of 12.8%.
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The April-August tax revenue was ₹7 lakh crore or 36.2% of this year's budget estimate. Non-tax revenue contracted 21% in this period from a year earlier. "As a result, financing additional expenditure due to three-months extension of PMGKAY, increased fertiliser subsidy or any other unforeseen expenditure is unlikely to destabilise budgetary fiscal arithmetic," said Sunil Kumar Sinha and Paras Jasrai of India Ratings in a note.
Rating agency ICRA said given the high subsidy bill and lower excise duty collection, there are several upside risks to the deficit target.
