India's fiscal gap one of the highest among major emerging markets

Combined expenditure of central and state governments exceeded revenues by around 7.5% of GDP in 2019

At around 7.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), the revenue-to-expenditure gap in India is one of the highest among major emerging markets. According to estimates by International Monetary Fund (IMF), total government expenditure was equivalent to around 27.1 per cent of GDP while total government revenue was around 19.6 per cent of GDP in the last calendar year.

The revenue-to-expenditure gap in India is similar to that in Brazil but much higher compared to China, Russia, and Indonesia. In China, government expenditure exceeded revenues by 6.1 per cent of GDP last year while it was a negative 1 per