The Centre’s fiscal and revenue deficits between April and January exceeded the Budget target for 2016-17.
The fiscal deficit shot up to ₹5,64,192 crore, amounting to 105.7 per cent of the Budget estimate, between April 2016 and January 2017, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Tuesday. It was within target at 95.8 per cent of the full year estimate in the same period a year ago.
Similarly, the Centre’s revenue deficit rose to ₹4,04,826 crore in the period, or 114.4 per cent of the full year target, in the first 10 months of the fiscal. It was much lower at 87.8 per cent of the Budget estimate a year ago.
The data come just a month after the Budget, where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had expressed confidence of meeting the fiscal deficit target of ₹5,34,274 crore or 3.9 per cent of the GDP in 2016-17.
The data revealed that though net tax revenue was higher than last fiscal at ₹8,16,354 crore or 77.4 per cent of the full year target, total receipts were lower than last fiscal at ₹10,53,465, or 72.9 per cent of the Budget estimate.
Total expenditure between April and January was on track at ₹16,17,657 crore, amounting to 81.8 per cent of the full year target. Of this, Plan spending was ₹4,43,354 crore and Non-Plan expenditure at ₹11,74,303 crore.
Usually, tax revenue gathers pace in the last few months of the fiscal and match up to the Centre’s spending to keep the deficit in track. Analysts attributed the higher fiscal deficit to higher revenue expenditure.
“The seasonal pick-up in tax inflows in the fourth quarter should help the government to rein in the fiscal deficit closer to the revised estimates for the fiscal. The quantum of PMGKY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) revenues would crucially affect whether there is a slippage relative to the revised estimates for the fiscal balances,” said Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist at rating firm ICRA.