New Delhi, Dec 30 (Agency) India’s fiscal deficit or gap between total revenue and expenditure reached 58.9% of the full year budget estimate at the end of November 2022, data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed on Friday. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 9.78 lakh crore during April-November period of FY23. For the current financial year, the fiscal deficit of the government is pegged at Rs 16.61 lakh crore or 6.4 per cent of the GDP.
As per the official data, the central government’s total revenue receipts stood at Rs 14.65 lakh crore during April-November period of FY23 while total expenditure was Rs 24.43 lakh crore. “Based on the available trends, we expect the GoI’s gross tax revenues in FY2023 to exceed the BE by a considerable Rs. 3.1 trillion. Based on this, we estimate that Rs. 3.8 trillion remains to be disbursed to the states in the last four months, which while substantial, is nearly Rs. 1.0 trillion lower than the transfer in the corresponding period of last year, offering a cushion in the remainder of this year,” said ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar.
The government collected 68.46% of budgeted net tax revenue till November 2022 showing sustained revenue buoyancy. The robust tax revenue gives the government more fiscal headroom to scale up expenditure. “Corporate tax, income tax and GST collections till November 2022 has been better than the budgeted growth and are providing support to tax revenue growth. Customs duty collections are growing marginally lower (12.4% till November) than the budgeted growth (12.7%), decline in excise duty collections (-20.9% till November 2022) is sharper than budgeted decline (-15.0%),” said Devendra Pant, Chief Economist, India Ratings and Research.