Government Close To Meeting Fiscal Deficit Target Of 3.4%, Says Finance Secretary
The government had revised the fiscal deficit target to 3.4 percent from 3.3 percent of the GDP for 2018-19.
Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the government is close to meeting its fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent for 2018-19.
The government, in the interim Budget in February, revised upward the fiscal deficit target to 3.4 percent from 3.3 percent of the GDP estimated earlier for the financial year ended March 31, 2019.
"We are very close to meeting (fiscal deficit)," he said when asked whether the government has met fiscal deficit target for 2018-19.
"Some numbers are still to come. So, we will wait for a couple of days. There will always be some shortfall but sum and substance of that is what is the net impact on the deficit," he said on the sidelines of the CII event in New Delhi.
The government, on many occasions, had indicated that there might be some shortfall on indirect tax collection during 2018-19 but not on the direct tax front.
Direct tax collection was revised upward to Rs 12 lakh crore. The government had originally budgeted to collect Rs 11.50 lakh crore in 2018-19 from direct taxes, which included corporate tax and personal income tax.
Likewise, in 2018-19, the Goods and Service Tax collection is pegged at Rs 6.43 lakh crore (Revised Estimate), which is lower than the targeted Rs 7.43 lakh crore (Budget Estimate).
On the indirect tax front, customs collection in 2018-19 is pegged at Rs 1.30 lakh crore (RE).