The government on Thursday decided to ask the 13th Finance Commission to map the road for achieving fiscal deficit targets by including off-budget subsidies like oil, food and fertiliser bonds estimated at over Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion) in the Budget.
While the April-February deficit is pegged at 5.3 per cent of GDP, the final print may be a tad lower due to revenue push and expenditure cuts seen in March, the last month of 2013-14 fiscal year, it said.
Non-Plan expenditure for April-May stood at Rs 2.01 lakh crore.
The government of India had budgeted to bring down fiscal deficit to 4.8 per cent of GDP in the current financial year, from 4.9 per cent in 2012-13.
Fiscal deficit has come down by over 34 per cent to Rs 53,235 crore (Rs 532.35 billion) in the first half of 2004-05 mainly due to government's expenditure control measures and higher tax mop up.
The country's exports rose 1.87 per cent to $38.5 billion in December 2025 despite global economic uncertainties, though an increase in imports led to a marginal widening of the trade deficit to $25 billion.
The government on May 17 formed a five-member committee.
The country's exports rose marginally by 0.61 per cent to $36.56 billion in January, while trade deficit widened to a three-month high of $34.68 billion, government data showed on Monday.
The government is committed to restrict the fiscal deficit at 3.4 per cent of GDP as envisaged in the Budget.
The government's fiscal deficit may exceed the target of 4.8 per cent of GDP by 0.50 percentage points in this financial year, and money-guzzling measures like decision to push the Food Security Bill are only expected to complicate the matter.
Conscious of the fact that the government was working 'against the political calendar', he called for a common understanding to work out mechanisms and remedial measures to tackle these 'critical deficiencies on a priority basis'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set to form the next government, is debating scrapping or revising a plan to cut the fiscal deficit to a nine-year low over the next three years.
An evident anti-incumbency trend against the Congress could mean an increasing likelihood of political pressure to limit expenditure cut-backs, it said.
Centre shows optimism of achieving the target of 4.1% at back of recent measures and turn around in manufacturing.
The President said that because of the policies of the government foreign investment has increased from $36 billion to $60 billion during the period.
In the run-up to the Union Budget, expected to be presented on July 10, this paints a grim picture for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The government is committed to restricting fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent of GDP this financial year and has no immediate plans to go for additional market borrowings, a senior government official said.
Captains of the banking industry expect rates to move up, says Rajesh Kumar.
Lower crude prices mean less government outlay for India,
The fiscal deficit, gap between expenditure and revenue.
Ehile the Centre had projected tax revenues to touch 12.1 per cent of GDP in FY19, Revised Estimates peg the collections at 11.9 per cent, owing to a shortfall in the goods and service tax (GST) collections, reports Ishan Bakshi.
'OMCs are incurring losses of Rs 1,000 crore per day due to the West Asia crisis.'
The government's fiscal deficit during 2011-12 worked out to be 5.7 per cent of the GDP, lower than 5.9 per cent projected in the revised estimates in the Budget.
The government contained its fiscal deficit, the gap between overall expenditure and receipts, at 4.7 of GDP during 2010-11 much lower than the revised estimate of 5.1 per cent, a development which provide much needed comfort to the Centre fighting stubborn inflation.
Following through announcements with enforcement of measures is key, as a run through recent Indian economic history shows, points out A K Bhattacharya.
On Agri Stack, Expenditure Secy V Vualnam says it's progressing well; using IT, farmers will be able to choose exact fertiliser quantities needed, reducing crowding at fertiliser outlets.
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.
India's retail inflation, which has stayed below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) 4 per cent target in recent times, is likely to remain benign in the coming months, RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said in a speech, on Friday, which was uploaded on the central bank's website on Tuesday. Headline inflation dipped to multi-year lows of around 1.5-2.8 per cent in late 2025.
Leaving behind apprehensions of a rise in interest rates and petro duty cut impacting budget numbers, the officials are now confident of keeping the fiscal deficit within the targeted 4.6 per cent of the gross domestic product.
The central government is on track to meet its fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of the GDP for 2022-23 on the back of strong growth in revenue collections, the World Bank said in its India Development Update on Tuesday. High nominal GDP growth in the first quarter supported strong growth in revenue collection, especially Goods and Services Tax (GST), despite tax cuts on fuel. Notwithstanding an increase in spending due to expanded fertilizer subsidies and food subsidies for vulnerable households in response to the commodity price shock, the government is on track to meet its FY22/23 fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP and the general government deficit is projected to decline to 9.6 per cent from 10.3 per cent in FY21/22 and 13.3 per cent in FY20/21.
The government has promised to keep the deficit at 4.1%
'In all these years of rupee depreciation, of rising oil prices, of inflation caused by import dependence, not one leader had the courage to look the people in the eye and say: Please do this for your country.'
"I dont think we will be able to contain fiscal deficit to our Budget plan of 5.1 per cent (of GDP). It could be 5.2 to 5.3 per cent, which is doable," Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters in New Delhi.
The gap between expenditure and receipts totalled Rs 3.98 crore (Rs 39 million) over the April 1-August 31 period against the Rs 5.31 lakh crore(Rs 5.31 trillion) pegged in the Budget for 2014-15.
Signaling buoyancy in economy in general and industry and services sectors in particular, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday sought to raise revenues by a robust 17 per cent, while limiting hike in spending to a marginal 1.7 per cent in a bid t
Enthused by higher mop up from the sale of PSU shares and buoyant direct tax collection, the government on Thursday indicated that fiscal deficit will be less than 4.8 per cent of GDP during 2003-04.
NITI Aayog vice chairperson Rajiv Kumar tells Indivjal Dhasmana that additional funds could be generated through divestment, and that the fiscal deficit should be widened while focusing on the revenue deficit.
Conceding that the fiscal deficit could exceed the targeted 4.6 per cent of GDP for 2011-12 by up to one percentage point, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said such a situation need not be a matter of concern.
The finance minister said that consolidation of state-owned banks could proceed at any time without waiting for the recommendations of the proposed high-level committee on banking.
