India's fiscal deficit reaches at 86.5% of FY19 budget target in April-July

Total expenditure for April-July was nearly Rs 8.90 trillion

The Centre’s April-July fiscal deficit stood at Rs 5.40 trillion, or 86.5 per cent of the 2018-19 budgeted estimate of Rs 6.24 trillion, official data showed on Friday. This compared to 92.4 per cent for the same period last year, primarily on the back of higher non-tax revenue and lower administrative expenditure. 

The Centre, meanwhile exceeded the budget estimates for revenue deficit by 6.3 per cent in the first four months of FY’19. However, this was lower than 31.2 per cent in a year ago period.

With GDP data for the April-June period now available, fiscal deficit for Q1FY19 was 9.6 per