India’s fiscal deficit hits 86 per cent of budget estimate in April-November

The centre’s fiscal deficit in the first eight months of FY17 (i.e. April-November 2016) has touched about 86 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2016-17 at Rs 4.58 lakh crore, compared to 87 per cent at this point of time in the year-ago period.

The government’s plan expenditure during the period came in at Rs 3.64 lakh core, 66.2 percent of the full-year budget estimate. During the same period last year, it stood at 64.1 per cent. The non-plan expenditure in eight months stood at Rs 9.22 lakh crore, or 64.6 per cent, of the whole-year estimate. The total expenditure (plan and non-plan) was Rs 12.86 lakh crore, 65 per cent of the government’s full-year estimate of Rs 19.78 lakh crore. The revenue deficit in eight months of FY17 remained at Rs 3.48 lakh crore, or 98.4 per cent of BE for 2016-17.

As per the Controller General of Accounts, tax revenue of the government has come in at Rs 6.21 lakh crore, or 59 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 eight months read Rs 7.96 lakh crore, or 57.8 per cent of BE. 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 GDP, in 2016-17.