India’s April-June fiscal deficit at 25.3% of annual target

INDIA’S fiscal deficit for the first three months of the financial year that started Apr 1 touched 4.51 trillion Indian rupees (S$72.9 billion), 25.3 per cent of annual estimates, government data showed on Monday (Jul 31).

April-June net tax receipts were 4.3 trillion rupees, or 18.6 per cent of the annual estimate, lower than 5.06 trillion rupees in the same period last year, according to the data.

Total expenditure during the period was 10.51 trillion rupees,or 23.3 per cent of the annual goal, lower than the 9.48 trillion rupees in the same period last year.

In the first quarter of the financial year, government’s capital expenditure or spending on building infrastructure was 2.78 trillion rupees, or 28 per cent of the annual target, higher than 1.75 trillion rupees last year.

India aims to narrow its fiscal deficit to 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of the current fiscal year, against 6.4 per cent last year. REUTERS