India's fiscal deficit reaches 55% of annual target in April-December

India fiscal deficit: Government data revealed on Wednesday that India's fiscal deficit for the first nine months of the 2023/24 financial year reached Rs 9.82 lakh crore, accounting for 55 per cent of the estimated deficit for the entire year.

During the April-December period, net tax revenues stood at Rs 17.30 lakh crore, approximately 74.2 per cent of the annual estimate. This marked a notable increase from the Rs 15.56 lakh crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year. The financial year commenced on April 1, 2023.

Total expenditure for the period reached Rs 30.54 lakh crore, constituting around 68 per cent of the annual target. In comparison, the expenditure was Rs 28.18 lakh crore during the same period in the preceding year.

Capital expenditure by the government, specifically the spending on building physical infrastructure, amounted to Rs 6.74 lakh crore in the first nine months of the financial year. This figure represents 67.3 per cent of the annual target and reflects a significant increase from the Rs 4.90 lakh crore spent during the same period a year earlier.

India has set the goal of reducing its fiscal deficit to 5.9 per cent of the gross domestic product by the end of this fiscal year, a decline from the 6.4 per cent recorded in the previous year.

(With Reuters inputs.)