Fiscal deficit hits 68% of Budget estimate in first half

The fiscal deficit is the gap between expenditure and revenue.

New Delhi: Fiscal deficit in the first half of the current fiscal stood at Rs 3.78 lakh crore, or 68.1 percent, of the Budget estimate (BE) for the whole year.

The fiscal situation in April-September showed improvement over the year ago as the deficit then stood at 82.6 percent of the Budget estimate of 2014-15.

The fiscal deficit -- the gap between expenditure and revenue -- for the entire current fiscal has been pegged at Rs 5.55 lakh crore.

As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, tax revenue came in at Rs 3.69 lakh crore, or 40.2 percent, of the full year BE of Rs 9,19,842 crore.

Total receipts from revenue and non-debt capital of the government during the first six months read Rs 5.31 lakh crore. The government estimates Rs 12.21 lakh crore receipts at end-March 2016.

The government's Plan expenditure during the period was Rs 2,53,816 core, 54.6 percent of the full-year BE.

During the same period last year, the government had managed to achieve 42.8 percent of Plan expenditure estimate.

The non-Plan expenditure during April-September of 2015-16 was Rs 6.56 lakh crore, or about 50 percent of the whole-year estimate.

The total expenditure (Plan and non-Plan) was Rs 9.10 lakh crore as against the government's estimate for the current fiscal at Rs 17.77 lakh crore.

The revenue deficit during the six months period stood at 2.69 lakh crore, or 68.2 percent, of BE for 2015-16.

For 2015-16, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to Rs 5.55 lakh crore, or 3.9 percent of GDP.

The fiscal deficit was Rs 5.01 lakh crore, or 4 percent of GDP, in 2014-15, down from 4.1 percent pegged in the revised estimate.