Fiscal deficit stands at 4.7 pc of GDP in first half of FY23

Fiscal deficit is a difference in the expenditure and revenue of the government.

It stood at 45.6 percent of the Budget target at the end of October, higher than 36.3 percent in the same period of the last financial year.

According to experts, India’s nominal GDP is expected to overshoot in FY23 by approximately $22 trillion, and fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP will be either lower than Budget estimates of 6.4 percent or slightly above it.

So far, the government has nearly exhausted budgetary allocation for fertilizer and additional allocation will be used for the remaining half of the year.

In the case of food subsidies, only Rs 1.35 trillion of Rs 2.13 trillion has been used so far. The money spent on PM Kisan has also been at a slow pace as only half the budget has been allotted.

Even as net tax revenues (post-devolution to states) grew by 11 percent, the fiscal deficit widened owing to the 14 percent reduction in non-tax revenues, along with the 10 percent increase in revenue expenditure, and a huge 62 percent expansion in capital expenditure.

The gap in fiscal deficit widened to Rs 7.6 trillion in April-Oct FY23 from Rs 5.5 trillion in the first seven months of FY22.