Business Standard

April-Jan fiscal deficit at 107% of FY15 Estimate

The deficit was 98.2% during the same period a year ago

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-107101346/stock-photo--indian-rupees-high-resolution-seamless-texture-indian-money-seamless-texture.html" target="_blank">Online</a> image via Shutterstock

Press Trust of India New Delhi
Fiscal deficit rose to Rs 5.68 lakh crore in April-January period, breaching the budget estimate by 107% which may call for harder measures by the government to meet the target of 4.1% of the GDP for full 2014-15 financial year.

As per the data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) today, fiscal deficit during April-January period was Rs 5.68 lakh crore or 107% of the 2014-15 budget estimate of Rs 5.31 lakh crore by January-end.

The overshooting of fiscal deficit is mainly attributed to subdued revenue realisation.

The fiscal deficit, the difference between government expenditure and revenue, during April-January period of 2013-14 stood at 98.2%.
 

In the Budget speech on Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said government would achieve the 4.1% fiscal deficit target in 2014-15.

The fiscal deficit target for current fiscal would be the lowest in seven years.

However, government has increased the 2015-16 target to 3.9% of the GDP as against 3.6% set earlier, as part of the fiscal consolidation roadmap.

Government in January raised around Rs 22,000 crore from offer-for-sale (OFS) by diluting 10% stake in Coal India, bringing down its stake down to 79%.

More disinvestment in blue chip PSUs are likely to take place this month.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Mar 02 2015 | 8:24 PM IST

Explore News