Fiscal deficit hits 74% of Budget Estimate in Apr-Oct

The fiscal situation in April-Oct showed improvement over the year ago period as the deficit then stood at 89.6% of the Budget Estimate

Fiscal deficit in the first seven months of the current fiscal reached Rs 4.11 lakh crore, or 74 per cent, of the Budget estimate (BE) for the whole year.

The fiscal situation in April-October showed improvement over the year ago period as the deficit then stood at 89.6 per cent of the Budget estimate of 2014-15.

The fiscal deficit - gap between government's expenditure and revenue - for 2015-16 has been pegged at Rs 5.55 lakh crore.

As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, tax revenue came in at Rs 4.28 lakh crore, or 46.6 per cent, of the full year BE of Rs 9,19,842 crore.

Total receipts from revenue and non-debt capital of the government during the first seven months read Rs 6.10 lakh crore. The government estimates Rs 12.21 lakh crore receipts at end-March 2016.

The government's Plan expenditure during the period was Rs 2.70 lakh core, 58.2 per cent of the full-year BE.

During the same period last year, the government had managed to achieve 46.4 per cent of Plan expenditure estimate.

The non-Plan expenditure during April-October of 2015-16 was Rs 7.50 lakh crore, or 57.2 per cent, of the whole-year estimate.

The total expenditure (Plan and non-Plan) was Rs 10.21 lakh crore as against the government's estimate for the current fiscal at Rs 17.77 lakh crore.

The revenue deficit during the seven months period stood at Rs 2.87 lakh crore, or 72.9 per cent, of BE for 2015-16.

For 2015-16, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to Rs 5.55 lakh crore, or 3.9 per cent of GDP.

The fiscal deficit was Rs 5.01 lakh crore, or 4 per cent of GDP, in 2014-15, down from 4.1 per cent pegged in the revised estimate.