Standard Chartered Bank excepts FY14 fiscal deficit at 5% of GDP

Says India - Fiscal brakes needed

Standard Chartered Bank expects a marginal breach in India's FY14 fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of GDP to 5% of GDP.

The fiscal deficit in first half of FY14 stood at Rs 412088 crore, which was 76% as a proportion of Budget Estimate compared with 65.6% in the same period last year 2013.

The StanChart economists- Anubhuti Sahay , Nagaraj Kulkarni , Samiran Chakraborty , said the 0.20% slippage will be due to slower tax revenue collection and uncertainty about realising non-tax revenue may lead to slippage.

As per the recent data released, gross direct tax collections during April-October of the current Financial Year 2013-14 is up by 11.58 percent and stood at Rs.3,37,907 crore as against Rs. 3,02,844 crore in the same period last year. While Gross Collection of Corporate taxes has shown an increase of 8.23 percent and stood at Rs. 2,09,622 crore as against Rs. 1,93,679 crore in the same period last year Gross collection of Personal income tax is up by 17.89 percent and stood at Rs. 1,25,078 crore as against Rs. 1,06,097 crore in the same period last year. Net direct tax collections is up by 13.33 percent and stands at Rs. 2,84,339 crore, as compared to Rs. 2,50,900 crore in the same period in the last fiscal.

The collection of Securities Transaction Tax (STT) stands at Rs. 2,645 crore showing the growth of 5.67 percent as compared to collections made in the same period in the last fiscal. The Wealth Tax has posted a growth of 5.86 percent and stands at Rs. 560 crore as against Rs. 529 crore in the same period last year.

Though the fiscal deficit target can be met by cutting spending, the upcoming elections are a deterrent, the report said.

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