Fiscal deficit surges four-fold in April-June

The central government's fiscal deficit surged by over four-fold in the first three months of the current fiscal to Rs 1.62 lakh crore on account of lower non-tax receipts. The deficit was Rs 40,196 crore in April-June, 2010.

The fiscal deficit, or the gap between overall expenditure and receipts in the first quarter of this year is almost 40% of the Budget estimate of Rs 4.12 lakh crore for 2011-12.

The sharp rise in Centre's fiscal deficit is on account of 89% decline in non-tax receipts which went down to Rs 12,221 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal compared to Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Besides, there was a 6.3% decline in tax revenues at Rs 78,699 crore during the period under review. The figure was Rs 83,994 crore in the year-ago period.

As per the latest data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the total receipts were Rs 98,564 crore in April-June 2011, down by 51% year-on-year. The figure was Rs 2.02 lakh crore in the three month period in 2010.

The government has set a fiscal deficit target of 4.6% of the GDP for the current fiscal.

However, non-tax receipts have been lower as the government's disinvestment programme for this year is yet to take off fully. The higher non-tax revenue in first quarter of last fiscal was on account of auction of 3G spectrum.

Experts had also said that lower revenue collection on account of removing duties on petroleum products, could pose a challenge and take the deficit to over 5%. In 2010-11, the fiscal deficit was 4.7%.

Meanwhile, the revenue deficit, the difference between revenue earned and expenses, in April-June this year stood at Rs 1.34 lakh crore, which is almost 13 times higher than the figure of Rs 10,577 crore in the first three months of 2010-11.

The latest number is 48.3% of the Budget estimate of Rs 3.07 lakh crore.