India's April-June fiscal deficit crosses 61% of full year's target

India's fiscal deficit during the first quarter ending June touched Rs 3.26 lakh crore -- or 61.1 per cent of Budget estimates for fiscal 2016-17 as against 51.6 per cent of the Budget estimates touched in the same quarter of last year, government data showed on Wednesday.

As per the government's Controller General of Accounts, the deficit, or the gap between expenditure and revenue for the entire current fiscal, has been pegged at Rs 5.34 lakh crore, as compared to the deficit of Rs 5.35 lakh crore in the last fiscal as per revised estimates of 2015-16.

Tax revenue during the period in question yielded Rs 1.57 lakh crore, or 14.9 percent of the fiscal's estimate, as compared to 11.1 per cent for the same quarter last year.

"Both revenue and expenditure accelerated in Q1 FY 17. While tax receipts showed growth, non-tax receipts was lower in Q1 FY 17," the government said.

Total receipts, from revenue and non-debt capital, during the first quarter, were Rs 1.81 lakh crore, or 12.8 percent of the estimates for the current fiscal, as compared to 11.8 percent of the budget estimates for the same period last year.

Total expenditure of the government during the April-June period was Rs 5.10 lakh crore, or 25.9 percent of the entire fiscal's estimates, as compared with the 24.2 per cent of estimates in the same quarter of 2015-16.

The revenue deficit during April-June was over Rs 2.82 lakh crore, or 79.7 per cent of the estimates, as compared to 58.6 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal.

The government has set the target of restricting the current fiscal's deficit at 3.5 per cent of the GDP or to Rs 5.34 lakh crore.

--IANS

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