The fiscal deficit in the first four months of current financial year stood at Rs3.85 lakh crore, or 69.3 per cent of Budget estimates for 2015-16, as Government stepped up its plan expenditure. The fiscal deficit during April-July 2014-15 was 61.2 per cent of the Budget estimates.
The fiscal deficit -- gap between expenditure and revenue -- for the entire current fiscal has been pegged at Rs5.55 lakh crore. Net tax receipts in April-July period of 2015-16 stood at Rs1.54 lakh crore. Total expenditure of the government during April-July was nearly Rs6 lakh crore, or 33.8 per cent of the entire year estimates.
Of the total expenditure, plan spending was over Rs1.57 lakh crore and non-plan was over Rs4.43 lakh crore. The revenue deficit during the four months was over Rs3.05 lakh crore, or 77.6 per cent of the estimates, Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data showed.
For the 2015-16 fiscal, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to Rs5.55 lakh crore, or 3.9 per cent of the GDP. The fiscal deficit was Rs5.01 lakh crore, or 4 per cent of GDP, in 2014-15, down from 4.1 per cent pegged in the revised estimate.