April-June fiscal deficit reaches 61% of budgetary target

Lower tax collections pushed India's budgetary fiscal deficit higher for the April-June 2019-20 period, to 61.4 per cent or Rs 4.32 lakh crore of the budget estimates (BE), official data showed on Wednesday.

The government has targeted the fiscal deficit to be at Rs 7.03 lakh crore for 2019-20.

According to the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, the fiscal deficit during the corresponding months of the previous fiscal was 68.7 per cent of that year's target.

The Central government's total expenditure stood at Rs 7.21 lakh crore (25.9 per cent of the budget estimates) and total receipts were Rs 2.89 lakh crore (15.3 per cent of the budget estimates).

Besides, the total expenditure for the period under review comprised of Rs 6.58 lakh crore on the revenue account, while Rs 63,000 crore was on capital expenditure.

Total receipts comprised of Rs 2.51 lakh crore of net tax revenue and Rs 33,475 crore of non-tax revenue receipts.

Devendra Kumar Pant, Chief Economist, India Ratings and Research (Fitch Group), said: "While the first quarter tax collections are affected by tax refunds of previous year, current growth momentum will have an impact on tax collections. While the income tax and central GST collection growth are relatively better, the corporate tax collection growth resembling the first quarter corporate results."

"On the whole, unless the consumption slowdown is reversed quickly, it will be a tough task for the government to achieve FY20 fiscal deficit."IANS