ADVERTISEMENT

India’s Fiscal Deficit At 61% Of 2019-20 Target In June

The gap between the government’s revenue and expenditure rose to Rs 4.32 lakh crore at the end of June. 

North Block which houses the Ministry of Finance in New Delhi. The Budget 2019 has set the India fiscal deficit target for 2019-20 at 3.3 percent of the GDP. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
North Block which houses the Ministry of Finance in New Delhi. The Budget 2019 has set the India fiscal deficit target for 2019-20 at 3.3 percent of the GDP. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)

India’s fiscal deficit crossed 60 percent of the full-year target in June.

The gap between the government’s revenue and expenditure rose to Rs 4.32 lakh crore at the end of June, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts. That’s 61.4 percent of the budget estimate of Rs 7.03 lakh crore for 2019-20.

The fiscal deficit, however, was narrower than in June last year when it stood at 68.7 percent of the FY19 target. The government managed to meet the revised target of 3.4 percent of the gross domestic product in the previous fiscal after it cut last-minute expenditure and rolled over fuel subsidies to make up for the shortfall in tax collection.

India set a fiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent of the GDP for 2019-20.

  • The government’s total expenditure for April-June this year rose to Rs 7.21 lakh crore, or 25.9 percent of the full-year target.
  • Revenue receipts nearly doubled since May and stood at 14.4 percent of the target at Rs 2.84 lakh crore in June.
  • Tax revenue in the April-June period was Rs 2.51 lakh crore, 14.7 percent of the full-year target. It stood at 6.8 percent as of May.
  • Non-tax revenue hit 12.3 percent of the target at Rs 33,475 crore.
  • Capital expenditure reached 18.8 percent of the 2019-20 target, compared with 29 percent in the same period last year.