Fiscal deficit at Rs 4.99 lakh cr; touches 91.3% of 2017-18 target in just six months

New Delhi: India’s fiscal deficit at the end of the first half of the current fiscal touched 91.3 percent of the budget estimate, mainly due to rise in expenditure. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit – difference between expenditure and revenue – was Rs 4.99 lakh crore during the April-September period of 2017-18, according to the data of Controller General of Accounts (CGA). During the same period of last financial year, 2016-17, the deficit was at 83.9 percent of the target. [caption id=“attachment_4186167” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters.[/caption] For 2017-18, the government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3.2 percent of the GDP. Last fiscal, it had met the 3.5 percent target. The CGA data showed that the government’s revenue receipts were at Rs 6.23 lakh crore in the first six month of the current fiscal, which works out to be 41.1 percent of the budget estimate (BE) of Rs 15.15 lakh crore for the entire year. The receipts, comprising taxes and other items, were at 41.2 percent of the target in the year-ago period. As per the CGA data, the government’s total expenditure had been increasing on sequential basis and totalled Rs 11.49 lakh crore at September-end or 53.5 percent of the budget estimates. It was 52 percent of the budget estimate a year ago. Capital expenditure during April-September, 2017-18 was only 47.3 percent of BE as compared to 54.7 percent in the same period of last fiscal. The revenue expenditure, including interest payment, was 54.6 percent of the BE during April-Septemer 2017-18. This compares with 51.6 percent in the corresponding period of 2016-17.