April-July fiscal deficit at 73% of BE

In the corresponding period of FY16, stood at 69.3% of BE for that year

The Centre’s fiscal deficit for April-July 2016 stood at Rs 3.93 lakh crore, nearly 74 per cent of the budgeted estimates for 2016-17, compared to 69.3 per cent in the same period last year.

While expenditure is traditionally front-loaded, these numbers will be a concern for the government as the increase came primarily from operational and administrative spending rather than capital expenditure. Notably, the April-July spending data exclude the burden due to Seventh Pay Commission, as the Rs 84,000-crore payout for that started only from August.  

As the gross domestic product (GDP) data for the April-June quarter was released on Wednesday, the deficit for that period constituted 9.3 per cent of quarterly GDP. The deficit for the full year has been pegged at Rs 5.33 lakh crore, or 3.5 per cent of the GDP.  Net tax receipts during April-July of 2016-17 stood at Rs 2.22 lakh crore, according to the Controller General of Accounts data.

Mop-up from non-tax revenue, which includes interest receipts and dividend, was lower at Rs 34,098 crore or 10.6 per cent of Budget estimate (BE). It was 24.9 per cent on BE at the end of July 2015-16. Total receipts (from revenue and non-debt capital) of the government during the four months were Rs 2.63 lakh crore, or 18.2 per cent of the estimates for the current year.

The government’s total expenditure during April-July was Rs 6.57 lakh crore, or 33.2 per cent of full-year estimates. Of the total expenditure, Plan spending was Rs 1.98 lakh crore and non-Plan was Rs 4.59 lakh crore.

Plan capital spending was only 28 per cent of full-year target, compared with 38 per cent for the same period last year; capital outlay under non-Plan spending was 29.6 per cent of the full-year target as opposed to 32.4 per cent last year.

The revenue deficit during the four months was Rs 3.3 lakh crore, or 93.1 per cent of the estimates, CGA data showed.