Centre's April-October fiscal deficit widens to Rs 7.58 lakh crore, 45.6% of FY23 aim

The Finance Ministry building situated in North Block, New Delhi

The Central government's fiscal deficit widened to Rs 7.58 lakh crore in April-October, accounting for 45.6 percent of the full-year target, data released on November 30 by the Controller General of Accounts showed.

The fiscal deficit for April-October 2021 had accounted for 36.3 percent of the FY22 target.

The fiscal deficit in the first seven months of the last financial year was Rs 5.47 lakh crore. As such, the fiscal deficit in April-October of the current financial year is 39 percent higher on a year-on-year basis.

The Centre is targeting a fiscal deficit of Rs 16.61 lakh crore for FY23, or 6.4 percent of GDP.

The Centre's total receipts were up a mere 0.7 percent in October at Rs 1.82 lakh crore, while total expenditure jumped 59.5 percent to Rs 3.20 lakh crore.

The poor performance was receipts was largely down to non-tax revenue, which amounted to Rs 21,179 crore in October, down from Rs 46,486 crore in the corresponding month of last year.

Gross tax revenue was up 20.8 percent, and net tax collections 20.2 percent, at Rs 2.18 lakh crore and Rs 1.59 lakh crore, respectively.

On the expenditure side, capital expenditure more than doubled in October from a year ago to Rs 66,125 crore.

For April-October as a whole, the Centre's total receipts stood at Rs 13.86 lakh crore, up 8.3 percent, while total expenditure was 17.4 percent higher at Rs 21.44 lakh crore.

Capex, which the Centre has been focusing on to push economic growth higher, crossed the Rs 4-lakh crore mark in October, taking the cumulative spending for April-October to Rs 4.09 lakh crore - 61.5 percent higher from the first seven months of FY22.

With more than half the financial year over, the fiscal deficit remains under 50 percent of the Budget target for the full year. As such, the Centre remains on track to meet its annual target of 6.4 percent of GDP, although questions have been raised given its feasibility on account of the higher subsidy bill.

As per the data released today, the major subsidy bill accounted for 75 percent of the full-year estimate in April-October, with the subsidy for nutrient-based fertilisers and urea at 99 percent and 97 percent of their respective estimates for the full year.