India’s fiscal deficit in April-Jan touches 74.5 per cent of full year target for FY25

New Delhi: India’s fiscal deficit for the first 10 months of the current financial year (April-January) stood at Rs 11.70 lakh crore, or 74.5 per cent of annual estimates, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit for the financial year ending March 2025 is estimated at Rs 15.69 lakh crore.

Total receipts stood at Rs 24 lakh crore, while overall expenditure from April to January was Rs 35.70 lakh crore. They were 76.3 per cent and 75.7 per cent of this fiscal year’s revised budget targets.

The overall deficit is in line with the targeted figure of 4.8 per cent of GDP fixed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the fiscal consolidation path, said ratings agency ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar.

The government spending for the ten months stood at Rs 35.7 lakh crore, reaching 75.7 per cent of the annual target. Capital expenditure, allocated for infrastructure development, amounted to Rs 7.57 lakh crore, or 74.4 per cent of the yearly goal.

Revenue receipts stood at 23.71 lakh crore rupees, of which tax revenue was 19.04 lakh crore rupees and non-tax revenue was 4.68 lakh crore rupees.

Tax and non-tax revenues were 74.4 per cent and 88.1 per cent of the revised budgeted estimates.

Finance Minister Sitharaman has announced a budget deficit target on a declining path to 4.4 per cent of GDP in 2025-26 from 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2024-25.

In the FY’25 Budget, the government projected gross tax revenue at Rs 38.40 lakh crore, marking an 11.72 per cent increase from FY’24. This includes Rs 22.07 lakh crore from direct taxes (personal income and corporate tax) and Rs 16.33 lakh crore from indirect taxes (customs, excise, GST).

The net market borrowing for the budget 2025-26 has been fixed at Rs 11.54 lakh crore while the rest of the funds will come from small savings schemes, the Finance Minister said.

The government’s gross borrowing target for FY26 was revised upwards 5.7 per cent to Rs 14.82 lakh crore. Earlier, it was set at Rs 14.01 lakh crore for FY25.

“In the July Budget, I committed to staying the course for Fiscal consolidation, we will endeavour to keep the fiscal deficit each year such that the Central government debt remains on a declining path as a percentage of the GDP,” FM Sitharaman said.

“Coming to 2025-26, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs 34.96 lakh crore and Rs 50.65 lakh crore. respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at Rs 28.37 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated to be 4.4 per cent of GDP,” the Finance Minister added.

–IANS