Nine-month fiscal deficit crosses 95 percent of yearly target

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Fiscal deficit in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year ending March touched 95.2 percent of the budgeted target for the whole year, suggesting the finance minister of Asia's third-largest economy faces a tough challenge to meet the target.

The fiscal deficit touched 5.16 trillion rupees during April-December, or 95.2 percent of the full year target, compared with 78.8 percent a year ago, government data showed on Friday.

Net tax receipts were at 5.18 trillion rupees in the first nine months of the current fiscal year to March 2014, while total expenditure was 11.64 trillion rupees.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is widely expected to slash investment spending to meet the budgeted target of 4.8 percent of gross domestic product, highest among BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Singh; editing by Malini Menon)