Fiscal deficit way past 3.5% goal if off-budget borrowings are factored in

Adding these borrowings, amounting to Rs 1.86 trn, to the Rs 7.96 trn projected fiscal deficit would take the actual deficit to 4.37% of GDP, and not the official 3.5% estimate

It began last year, but the data on off-budget borrowing has now come into its own in Budget 2020. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has shown the number for the first time in Indian budget history and it stands at Rs 1,86,000 crore for 2020-21. So add this to the projected Rs 7,96,337 crore shown as fiscal deficit. It means the actual fiscal deficit is 4.37 per cent of the GDP. Not the fearful plus five per cent, but also less pretty than the 3.5 per cent for next year. 

The sum includes two streams. The first is the extra-budgetary resources mobilised