India's Fiscal Deficit Reaches 17.2% Of FY25 Target In April-July

The Union government's fiscal deficit expanded to 17.2% of the budgetary target at the end of the first four months for the financial year ending March 2025.

The gap between expenditure and revenue during April-July stood at Rs 2.77 lakh crore of the total limit set at Rs 16.85 lakh crore for the ongoing fiscal, according to provisional data released on Friday by the Controller General of Accounts.

The Union government has set a fiscal deficit target of 4.9% of GDP for the financial year ending March 2025, as it aims to continue on its fiscal consolidation path. This is after bettering its deficit target for the last fiscal to 5.6% of GDP.

The total expenditure until July reached Rs 13 lakh crore, amounting to 27% of the fiscal year's target. Of the total expenditure, interest payments accounted for Rs 3.28 lakh crore, according to the data.

Meanwhile, revenue receipts were at Rs 10.7 lakh crore during the first four months of the fiscal 2024-25, which is 32.5% of the fiscal year target.

In the first four months, the government's capital expenditure reached Rs 2.61 lakh crore, accounting for 23.5% of the annual target, compared to Rs 3.2 lakh crore in the same period last year.

Additionally, the revenue deficit until July stood at Rs 1.41 lakh crore, reaching 3.8% of the fiscal year target.

In a separate statement, the Ministry of Finance said that the government has received a total of Rs 10.23 lakh crore in revenue up to June 2024. This includes Rs 7.15 lakh crore in tax revenue, which is the amount received by the central government after deducting the share of state governments. Additionally, the government has received Rs 3.01 lakh crore in non-tax revenue and Rs 6,386 crore in non-debt capital receipts.

Besides, the Centre had transferred Rs 3.66 lakh crore to state governments as their share of taxes up to June. This is an increase of Rs 57,109 crore compared to the same period last year, the statement added.