India's April-October fiscal deficit crosses 103% of target

India's budgetary fiscal deficit for the April-October period at Rs 6.49 lakh crore has exceeded the target for the full fiscal, accounting for 103.9 per cent of the budgeted target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore, mainly owing to slow revenue growth during the period under consideration, official data showed on Friday.

The data furnished by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed that the fiscal deficit during the corresponding seven months of the previous fiscal was 96.1 per cent.

Till October, the government's total expenditure stood at Rs 14.56 lakh crore (59.6 per cent of the budget estimates) while the total receipts were Rs 7.89 lakh crore (45.7 per cent of the budget estimates). This is as compared to 48.1 per cent of budget estimates received in the same period of 2017-18.

"Rs 3,77,076 crore has been transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the government up to this period, which is Rs 39,796 crore higher than the corresponding period of last year," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Of the total expenditure, Rs 12.79 lakh crore was on revenue account and Rs 1.77 lakh crore on capital account.

"Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 2,92,093 crore is on account of interest payments and Rs 2,08,421 crore is on account of major subsidies," the statement said.

On the other hand, total receipts comprised Rs 6.61 lakh crore of tax revenue, Rs 1.28 lakh crore of non-tax revenue and Rs 19,181 crore of non-debt capital receipts.

While the government's tax revenue during the period in question stood at 44.7 per cent of the budgeted amount, compared to 51.6 per cent in the same period last year, its non-debt capital receipts at 20.8 per cent registered a sharper fall on the

45.7 per cent of the target received on this account last year

Non-debt capital receipts consisted of loan recovery worth Rs 9, 080 crore and disinvestment of public sector undertakings amounting to Rs 10,101 crore.

While the government's tax revenue during the period in question stood at 44.7 per cent of the budgeted amount, compared to 51.6 per cent in the same period last year, its non-debt capital receipts at 20.8 per cent registered a sharper fall on the

45.7 per cent of the target received on this account last year.

Commenting on the latest deficit figures, US rating agency Fitch Group's Indian arm India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that coupled with the lower GDP growth of 7.1 per cent for the second quarter, as per official figures released on Friday, point to a widening of the fiscal deficit for the current year.

"While expenditure continues to grow, total receipts in October 2018 shrank from October 2017. Based on Q2 FY19 GDP growth at 7.1 per cent and likelihood of lower growth, the chances of fiscal slippage are very high, Ind-Ra expects FY19 fiscal deficit to be 3.5 per cent of GDP," Ind-Ra Chief Economist Devendra Pant said in a statement.

--IANS

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