Fiscal deficit hits 83.9% of budget estimate in first half

Fiscal deficit in the first half of the current fiscal stood at Rs 4.47 lakh crore, or 83.9 % of the budget estimate (BE) for the whole year.

The fiscal situation in April-September deteriorated over the year ago as the deficit then stood at 68.1 % of the budget estimate of 2015-16. Fiscal deficit, the gap between expenditure and revenue for the entire fiscal, has been pegged at Rs 5.33 lakh crore, or 3.5 % of GDP, in 2016-17. As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, tax revenue came in at Rs 4.48 lakh crore, or 42.5 % of the full year BE of Rs 10,54,101 crore.

Total receipts from revenue and non-debt capital of the government during the first six months read Rs 5.79 lakh crore. The government's Plan expenditure during the period was Rs 3,22,633 core, 58.7 % of the full-year BE. During the same period last year, the government had managed to achieve 54.6 % of Plan expenditure estimate. The non-Plan expenditure during April-September of 2016-17 was Rs 7.05 lakh crore, or about 49.4 % of the whole-year estimate. The total expenditure (Plan and non-Plan) was Rs 10.27 lakh crore as against the government's estimate for the current fiscal at Rs 19.78 lakh crore. The revenue deficit during the six months stood at 3.25 lakh crore, or 92.1 % of BE for 2016-17.