Taming fiscal deficit at 3.2% of GDP is a tall order

Meeting the fiscal deficit target will become more difficult in the second half of the fiscal year

The government needs Rs 655.73 billion revenue in excess of expenditure in the four months till March in order to contain the fiscal deficit at 3.2 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2017-18.

This is based on the assumption made in the Budget that the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) will grow at 11.75 per cent in 2017-18. In the first half of the fiscal year, the GDP grew by 9.30 per cent in nominal terms. Meeting the fiscal deficit target will become more difficult if nominal GDP growth falls short of nearly 14 per cent in the