The fiscal deficit widened from 36.5% reported in the comparable year-earlier period.
The Centre has budgeted a fiscal deficit of Rs 16.96 lakh crore for FY27.
Total receipts stood at Rs 18.35 lakh crore during April-September, equivalent to 50.3% of the full-year budget estimate. In the corresponding period last year, receipts were at 49.5% of the annual target.
Revenue receipts stood at Rs 17.57 lakh crore rupees or 49.7% of the budget estimate. Of this, the net tax revenue was Rs 12.76 lakh crore, while non-tax revenue was Rs 4.81 lakh crore.
Net tax revenue reached 44.5% of the full-year estimate, compared with 43.3% during the corresponding period last year. Non-tax revenue stood at 72.2% of the annual target, lower than 79.9% in the year-ago period. This will help the central government reduce its fiscal deficit.
On the expenditure side, New Delhi spent about Rs 6.55 lakh crore on major subsidies such as food, fertilisers and petroleum. This was 53.6% of the revised annual aim, tad wider than 51.8% of budgeted expenditure in the comparable period last year.Revenue expenditure reached Rs 18.95 lakh crore, or 45.9% of the full-year estimate.
The revenue deficit stood at Rs 1.38 lakh crore, or 23.4% of the annual target, compared with 5.2% in the corresponding period last year. The primary deficit stood at Rs 68,000 crore, or 23.4% of the budget estimate.
Major subsidy expenditure reached Rs 2.2 lakh crore through September, equivalent to 54% of the Rs 4.1 lakh crore budgeted for the year, compared with 53% of the annual target during the corresponding period last year.
Food subsidy expenditure stood at Rs 1.02 lakh crore, while urea subsidy spending reached Rs 85,585 crore. Spending on nutrient-based fertiliser subsidies was Rs 33,664 crore, while petroleum subsidies stood at Rs 1,149 crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget for FY27, had pegged the fiscal deficit target at 4.3% of GDP as the government continued on its fiscal consolidation path.