India’s fiscal deficit in the first half of the year has touched 95.3% of the full-year target, government data showed.

India’s fiscal deficit in the first half of the year has touched 95.3% of the full-year Budget Estimates (BE), the government data showed. The fiscal deficit in the April-September period was Rs 5.95 lakh crore against the full year target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore for the financial year 2018-19. For this year, the government has set the fiscal deficit target at 3.3% of the GDP, down 20 basis points from the previous year’s 3.5%.

The government has said that in the second half of the financial year, it will be cutting its borrowing to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore. Rating agency Moody’s recently said that the government is staring at minor slippage in fiscal deficit target due to the fuel tax cut announced earlier this month.

Fiscal deficit was 91.3% of BE at September end at Rs 5.95 lakh crore

Fiscal deficit target for FY19 is 3.3% of GDP at Rs 6.24 lakh crore

Total receipt during April-September: Rs 7.09 lakh crore (39% of BE)

Total expenditure during April-September: Rs 13.04 lakh crore (53.4% of BE)

“With the impact of the seasonal uptick in tax revenues at the quarter-end getting offset by the high growth in revenue expenditure, the fiscal deficit of the government of India as a percentage of the FY2019 budget estimates inched up to 95.3% by end-September 2018 from 94.7% by end-August 2018,” Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist, ICRA said.

“Moreover, the fiscal deficit recorded a YoY rise for H1 FY2019 relative to H1 FY2018, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the respective Budget Estimates. However, the moderation in the revenue deficit at end-September 2018 relative to the previous month offers some relief,” she added.