India’s April-November fiscal deficit nears 115 percent of 2018-19 target

31-December-2018

India’s financials seem to be steeping deeper in trouble as the fiscal deficit went on to race past the designated target despite government assurances. The fiscal deficit stood at Rs 7.17 lakh crore ($101.93 billion) by the end of November 2018.

This amounts to 114.8 per cent of the budgeted target for the current fiscal year, government data showed on Thursday. The fiscal deficit for the corresponding period last financial year stood at 112 per cent. Government had already breached the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of the GDP back in October.

Net tax receipts in the first eight months of the fiscal year that ends in March 2019 were Rs 7.32 lakh crore, government data showed. Revenue receipts ended at Rs 8.7 lakh crore by end of November this year. This is a touch ahead of half of the Budget Estimates for this financial year.

Revenue expenditure climbed to Rs 14.21 laakh crore or over two-thirds of the Budget Estimates. During the April-November period, the loans disbursed crossed Rs 14,400 crore, which is 66.2 per cent of budgetary estimates.

Significant rise was recorded in subsidies given for petroleum products and urea, with each reaching 93 per cent and 74 per cent respectively of their Budget Estimates. The same for the corresponding period last fiscal was at 86 and 64 per cent respectively.

The overall expenses on major subsidies came up to Rs 2.19 lakh crore by April-November period, which is 83 per cent of the budgetary estimates.

The government is widely expected to miss its fiscal deficit target in the current fiscal year, or announce spending cuts in the last quarter. It has already cut its fiscal deficit target to 3.3 percent of the GDP from 3.5 per cent last year. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stood by the target unwaveringly.

Source: BUSINESS TODAY