NEW DELHI: India’s fiscal deficit for the first two months of the current financial year that started April 1 stood at 506.15 billion rupees ($6.07 billion), or 3% of the estimate for the whole year, government data showed on Friday.
Net tax revenues in April-May were 3.19 trillion rupees, or 12% of the annual target, compared with 2.78 trillion rupees in the same period last year, according to the data.
Total expenditure by the government during the period was 6.23 trillion rupees, or about 13% of the annual goal, compared with 6.26 trillion rupees in the same period last year.
Government spending in April and May was impacted due to the general elections.
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For the two months, government’s capital expenditure or spending on building physical infrastructure was 1.44 trillion rupees, or 13% of the annual target, lower than 1.68 trillion rupees in the same period a year earlier.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has no plans to increase its fiscal deficit target despite speculation that more spending might be needed to appease coalition partners, Reuters reported on June 11.
In February’s interim budget, the government set a fiscal deficit target of 5.1% of GDP for this fiscal year, down from a revised 5.6% in the previous year.
The final budget will be presented in July.
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