Fiscal gains

Higher tax revenue will give more flexibility in pushing expenditure

The Union government’s borrowing plan for the second half of this fiscal year came as a surprise to those who had expected the number to go up to compensate the states for tax shortfalls during the pandemic. The government borrowed Rs 7.02 trillion of the projected Rs 12.05 trillion for the year in the first half, while the remaining Rs 5.03 trillion would be raised in the second half. This will also include borrowing for goods and services tax (GST) compensation. The government had announced that borrowing on account of GST compensation would be about Rs 1.6 trillion for this