India's April-November Fiscal Deficit Widens To 62.3% Of FY26 Target

India's fiscal deficit for the April-November period widened to Rs 9.77 lakh crore, according to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts on Friday.

The deficit has reached 62.3% of the FY26 target in the first eight months of the financial year. This is wider as compared to the deficit of 52.5% in the year-ago period.

The Centre's revenue deficit in the April-November period stood at Rs 3.57 lakh crore, which is 68.2% of the annual target. In the year-ago period, it stood at 61.5%.

The total expenditure during the first eight months of this fiscal came in at Rs 29.25 lakh crore, which is 58.7% of the FY26 estimated target, similar to the 56.9% it had reached in the year-ago period.

Out of this, the total capital expenditure stands at Rs 6.58 lakh crore, which is 58.7% of the annual target. This marks a jump as compared to the year-ago period, when capex stood 46.2% of the fiscal target.

The government's total receipts for April-October stood at Rs 18 lakh crore, which is 51.5% of the full-year target. In the comparable year-ago period, the mop-up stood at 53.7%.

Revenue receipts which are led by tax collections reached 55.7% of the annual target in the first eight months, as they stood at Rs 19.49 lakh crore.

Notably, in the non-tax collection segment, government has already reached 88.6% of its annual target, of which collection of dividends and profits have exceeded their annual target within the first eight months itself. The collections mark a significant jump from 78.3% in the year-ago period.

Collection of dividends and profits by the end of November stood at Rs 3.39 lakh crore. In the comparable period of the last fiscal, the collections had reached 97% of the annual target.

Tax revenue so far has reached 49.1% of the fiscal target, compared to 55.9% in the year-ago period. The tax collections stood at Rs 13.93 lakh crore.