India's Fiscal Deficit Reaches 85.8% of Target

New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) The Centre's fiscal deficit touched 85.8 per cent of the annual target by the end of February 2025, according to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit -- the gap between expenditure and revenue -- was Rs 13,46,852 crore during the April-February 2024-25 period.

The deficit was 86.5 per cent of revised estimates (RE) of 2023-24 in the year-ago period.

The CGA data showed that the central government's tax revenue (net) was Rs 20 lakh crore or 78.8 per cent of the RE of 2024-25. It was at 79.6 per cent during the corresponding year of the last financial year.

The total expenditure was Rs 38.93 lakh crore, or 82.5 per cent of the RE, according to the revenue-expenditure data of the Union government. In the year-ago period, it stood at 83.4 per cent.

In the Union Budget presented in Parliament, the fiscal deficit for 2024-25 has been pegged at 4.8 per cent of GDP (lower than the earlier estimate of 4.9 per cent) and 4.4 per cent for 2025-26.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit for the financial year ending March 2025 is estimated at Rs 15.69 lakh crore.

According to the data, out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 9.52 lakh crore was on account of interest payments and Rs 3.63 lakh crore was on account of major subsidies during the April-February period of the current financial year.

CGA said Rs 11.80 lakh crore has been transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the government up to February 2025, which is Rs 1.47 lakh crore higher than the previous year.