India Ratings and Research predicts the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will maintain the repo rate at 5.25 per cent throughout FY27, despite potential inflationary pressures from higher fuel prices, with inflation expected to remain within the central bank's tolerance band.
The central government's fiscal deficit climbed to Rs 81,014 crore (Rs 810.14 billion) for the first six months of the financial year 2003-04.
International credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has voiced concern over the fiscal deficit of the central and state governments even as it expressed happiness over the strong economic growth momentum.
Inflation, which has been at high levels, is also a key challenge for the country, Thomas J Richardson, the IMF's Senior Resident Representative in India and Nepal, said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The fiscal deficit for 2015-16 may eventually come down to the targeted level of 3.9 per cent of GDP.
'Why do we make finance ministers go into contortions, to tell us that near 6% is 3.5%?' 'Why not encourage more open and full accounting so that the country knows the real picture,' asks T N Ninan.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared setting up of Cabinet Committee on Investment for providing expeditious clearances to major projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).
Current account deficit in 2010-11 will be well below 3.0 per cent of GDP.
A recently finalised peace deal between the US and Iran, set to be signed on June 19, is expected to significantly benefit India's economy by boosting exports to West Asia, stabilising the rupee, and easing inflationary pressures, according to exporters and experts.
Jaitley said govt would achieve 4.1% fiscal deficit target in FY15.
Although the government had pegged fiscal deficit for the current financial year at 5.1 per cent of the GDP in the budget, it has revised the target to 5.3 per cent in view of subdued revenue collection and rising fuel and food subsidy bills.
The fiscal deficit rose primarily on the back of lower non-tax revenues, which came in at 60 per cent of full-year target, compared with 62.4 per cent for the same period last year.
During April-October 20 period, the tax department has made refunds to the tune of Rs 80,850 crore.
As part of the plan, government departments may have to surrender the unspent project-linked component of the Rs 70,000-crore (Rs 700-billion) additional gross Budgetary support at the end of the financial year.
The Twelfth Finance Commission on Monday warned that rising fiscal deficit of the Centre and the states at over 10 per cent of GDP in 2002-03 may have an "adverse" impact on debt, developmental expenditure and growth.\n\n\n\n
India's fiscal deficit shot up by nearly 50 per cent to Rs 92,068 crore (Rs 920.68 billion) during the first seven months of 2005-06 despite a 24 per cent higher tax mop up.
This is slightly better than the fiscal deficit position last year when it was 85.6 per cent of the Budget target.
The government has set a target of bringing the fiscal deficit down to 5 per cent of the GDP by 2011, and 4 per cent of the GDP by 2012.
Net tax receipts for the first three months of 2013 touched Rs 1.02 trillion.
The Centre's outgo on major subsidies was up 49 per cent to about Rs 1.42 lakh crore (Rs 1.42 trillion) in the first half of the fiscal against Rs 95,190 crore (Rs 951.9 billion) in the same period last year.
Fiscal deficit is a reflection of government borrowings, which is used to bridge the gap between revenue and expenditure.
It was 55.3 per cent for the same period last year, and data shows the fiscal deficit for April-May was kept in reasonable check in spite of heavy frontloading of expenditure.
Officials said there had been no official word or indication from the top yet. The expectation from officials is to do what they can, but it is understood that all fiscal and budgetary targets don't matter anymore.
The fiscal deficit of the Centre surged by 21 per cent to Rs 52,509 crore (Rs 525.09 billion) in the first five months of 2004-05.
The government has spent a little less than one-third of the Budget estimate of capital expenditure, it can still spend about Rs 20,000 crore this year without disturbing its fiscal deficit target.
India's state-level fiscal rules have improved headline deficits, but the gains are fragile and uneven with major states still grappling with high debt levels, a World Bank report submitted to the 16th Finance Commission (FC) said. According to the report, despite nearly two decades of adoption of fiscal responsibility laws (FRLs), debt levels have not converged.
Estimates (BE), slightly better than 74.4 per cent in the same period a year ago, according to Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data released on Friday.
Moody's assigns a 'Baa3' rating on India, with a stable outlook.
The Centre and states are likely to budget for higher market borrowings to the tune of Rs 2.3 lakh crore next fiscal even though the Union budget may peg a lower-than-expected fiscal deficit for the Centre at 5.8 per cent of GDP, says a report. Icra Ratings anticipates higher redemptions will lead to gross market borrowings of the Centre to rise to Rs 14.8 lakh crore and of the states to jump by Rs 1.6 lakh crore to Rs 9.6 lakh crore, taking the combined borrowings (of the Centre and the states) to Rs 24.4 lakh crore in FY2024, up by 2.3 lakh crore from FY23 combined. In FY23, the Centre's gross borrowings are budgeted at Rs 14.1 lakh crore and of the states at Rs 8 lakh crore, or a combined borrowing of Rs 22.1 lakh crore, according to the agency.
The government should have mentioned clearly the specific structural reforms that were responsible for the deviation from the fiscal deficit target by half a percentage point, says A K Bhattacharya.
Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Union Budget for 2025-26:
Revenues from 3G and Broadband Wireless Access spectrum auction has helped government reduce the deficit.
Fiscal deficit is essentially the difference between what the government spends and what it earns. It is expressed as a percentage of GDP.
The Centre's fiscal deficit for the first two months (April-May) of the current fiscal has increased to Rs 90,758 crore, which is 27.3 per cent of the Interim Budget estimate, according to the Controller General of Accounts data released on Tuesday. The Budget estimate for the fiscal deficit in the year 2009-10 is Rs 3,32,835 crore.
The government had budgeted revenue realisation for 2012-13 fiscal at Rs 10.38 lakh crore (Rs 10.38 trillion).
With not much hope on robust tax collections and disinvestment, economists peg the gap between the government's expenditure and receipts to be between six and seven per cent for this financial year.
While the latter is being viewed as a greater concern, the former may gain prominence in the next few weeks.
In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit -- the difference between expenditure and revenue -- was Rs 6.12 lakh crore during April-November 2017-18
Fiscal deficit fell marginally by 2.3 per cent to Rs 90,239 crore (Rs 902. 39 billion) in the first nine months of the financial year 2004-05 mainly due to higher tax mop-up.
