India's Fiscal Deficit Reaches 46.5% Of FY25 Target In April-October

The Union government's fiscal deficit has reached 46.5% of the budgetary target at the end of the first seven months of the financial year ending in March 2025.

The gap between expenditure and revenue amounted to Rs 7.5 lakh crore during the period from April to October, compared to the total limit set at Rs 16.85 lakh crore for the ongoing fiscal year, according to provisional data released on Friday by the Controller General of Accounts. In the same period last year, the government's fiscal deficit stood at Rs 8.03 lakh crore.

The Union government has set a fiscal deficit target of 4.9% of GDP for the financial year ending in March 2025, as part of its strategy to continue on the path of fiscal consolidation. This followed an improvement over the previous year's deficit target, which was set at 5.6% of GDP.

The fiscal deficit was supported by the Reserve Bank of India's dividend payment earlier this year and a reduction in capital expenditure. The RBI paid Rs 2.1 lakh crore as a dividend to the central government for fiscal year 2024, marking the highest surplus ever recorded.

Total receipts were at Rs 17.2 lakh crore during the first seven months of the fiscal 2024-25, which is 53.7% of the fiscal year target. Net tax receipts for the first seven months of the current financial year reached Rs 13.04 lakh crore, representing 50.5% of the fiscal target. That was similar to Rs 13.01 lakh crore collected during the same period last year, according to the data.

Total government expenditure for the period was Rs 24.73 lakh crore, about 51.3% of the annual target. That compared to the total of Rs 23.94 lakh crore in the same period last year.

Capital expenditure from April until October reached Rs 4.67 lakh crore, amounting to 42% of the full-year target, down from 14.6% achieved in the seven months of the previous fiscal. The decline in capital expenditure was primarily due to the Lok Sabha elections conducted earlier this fiscal.

Additionally, the revenue deficit until September stood at Rs 3.03 lakh crore, reaching 52.2% of the fiscal year target, as opposed to Rs 2.79 lakh crore clocked during the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the non-tax revenue reached Rs 3.99 lakh crore by October 2024, or 73.2% of the Budget estimate of Rs 2.65 lakh crore for the fiscal 2025.