FY22 fiscal deficit at 6.7% Vs revised estimate of 6.9%

The fiscal deficit for 2021-22 worked out to be 6.71 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), lower than 6.9 per cent projected by the Finance Ministry in the revised Budget Estimates, according to government data released on Tuesday.

Unveiling the revenue-expenditure data of the Union government for 2020-21, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) said that the fiscal deficit in the absolute terms was Rs 15,86,537 crore (provisional).

The revenue deficit at the end of 2021-22 was 4.37 per cent.


"The Provisional data indicates that the fiscal deficit of the Government of India (GoI) was contained marginally below the FY2022 revised estimate, benefitting from the higher tax (+Rs. 0.55 trillion) and non tax (+Rs. 0.34 trillion) revenue receipts and lower capital spending (-Rs. 0.1 trillion), which absorbed the deficit in non debt capital receipts (-Rs. 0.61 trillion) and higher revenue expenditure (+Rs. 0.34 trillion)," Aditi Nayar of ICRA said.

For the last financial year, the government had initially pegged the fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent of the GDP in the budget presented in February 2021.

The government in the revised estimates in the Budget for 2022-23 forecast a higher fiscal deficit of 6.9 per cent of the GDP or Rs 15,91,089 crore for the fiscal ended in March.