Boost non-tax revenue: Further fiscal slippage to dent Budget's credibility

The latest slippage is all the more worrying because fiscal prudence had been one of the main achievements of this government

In the run-up to the Union Budget, the primary concern for most observers was the state of the fiscal health. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did little to allay the apprehensions as he announced a slippage of 30 basis points (bps) in the fiscal deficit for FY18. Worse, the fiscal deficit for the next year has been targeted at 3.3 per cent, which is quite a distance from Mr Jaitley’s initial promise in 2014 to achieve the 3 per cent mark in three years. He has now postponed getting to 3 per cent to 2020-21. Fiscal consolidation is important from