India's April-December Fiscal Deficit Reaches 56.7% Of FY25 Target

The Union government's fiscal deficit has reached 56.7% of the budgetary target at the end of the first nine months of the financial year ending in March 2025.

The gap between expenditure and revenue amounted to Rs 9.14 lakh crore during the period from April to December, compared to the total limit set at Rs 16.13 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 9.82 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 23.18 lakh crore during the first nine months of the fiscal 2024-25, which is 72.3% of the fiscal year target. Net tax receipts for the first nine months of the current financial year reached Rs 18.4 lakh crore, representing 71.3% of the fiscal target, as compared with Rs 17.29 lakh crore collected during the same period last year, according to the data.

Total government expenditure for the period was Rs 32.32 lakh crore, about 67.8% of the annual target. That compared to the total of Rs 30.54 lakh crore in the same period last year.

Capital expenditure from April until December reached Rs 6.85 lakh crore, amounting to 61.7% of the full-year target, up 1.8% achieved in the nine months of the previous fiscal. The decline in capital expenditure during the first few months was primarily due to the Lok Sabha elections conducted earlier this fiscal.

Additionally, the revenue deficit until November stood at Rs 3.38 lakh crore, reaching 38.9% of the fiscal year target, as opposed to Rs 3.46 lakh crore clocked during the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the non-tax revenue reached Rs 4.47 lakh crore by December 2024, or 82% of the Budget estimate of Rs 5.45 lakh crore for the fiscal 2025.