At 5.6 percent, India's fiscal deficit for the financial year ended March 31 was lower than its full-year target of 5.8 percent of the gross domestic product due to a small cut in expenditure, government data showed on Friday.
The fiscal deficit came in at Rs 16.54 lakh crore, or 95.3% of the estimate, even as the government continued its record infrastructure spending to boost the economy.
The Indian economy grew 8.2% in FY24, GDP data released on Friday showed. India's fiscal year starts from April 1 and runs through March 31.
Net tax receipts for 2023/24 were higher than projected at Rs 23.27 lakh crore, and 100.1% of the year's target, the data showed.
Total expenditure came in at Rs 44.43 lakh crore, or 99% of the targeted spend for that year.
The government's capital spending on infrastructure projects was Rs 9.49 lakh crore.
India's April fiscal deficit was at Rs 2,10,136 crore versus FY25 estimate of Rs 16,85,494 crore, which represents 12.5 percent of FY25 target.
The government's capital spending on infrastructure projects was Rs 9.49 lakh crore.
The government has set a fiscal deficit target of 5.1 percent for the current financial year, but expectation of a narrower deficit has built up due to the surprise Rs 2.11 lakh crore dividend transfer by the Reserve Bank of India to the government earlier this month.
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