New Delhi– India’s budgetary fiscal deficit for the April-January period was Rs 9.85 lakh crore, or 128.5 per cent of the revised target.
The government has revised its fiscal deficit target to be at Rs 7.66 lakh crore for 2019-20.
As per Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data released on Friday, the fiscal deficit during the corresponding months of the previous fiscal was 121.5 per cent of that year’s target.
The Central government’s total expenditure stood at Rs 22.68 lakh crore (84.1 per cent) while total receipts were Rs 12.82 lakh crore (66.4 per cent).
ICRA’s Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said: “Typically, the Government of India’s receipts tend to sharply exceed its expenditures in the last few months of each fiscal, which aids in reining in the full year fiscal deficit. While we estimate the GoI’s gross tax receipts to be considerably lower than the FY2020 RE, lower tax devolution to the states would bolster the Central government’s net tax revenues.”
“There remains considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude and the timing of the actual payments that would be made by the telecom and non-telecom license holders to the Government of India to settle the AGR dues. Therefore, it remains unclear to what extent the collections of the GoI from Other Communication Services will differ from the FY2020 RE.” (IANS)
