 "Illustration by Ajay Mohanty")
Indian markets are examining one government metric carefully as December winds down. Will Finance Minister Arun Jaitley manage to hold on to his fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2018-19? A larger gap could mean more government papers in the market, which would lower their price and hurt the income of funds that have invested in these papers.
Latest data from the Controller General of Accounts notes that the government has already exceeded its deficit target by over 4 per cent after seven months. Jaitley has been prudent in his expenditure, but revenue, especially from the
