The fiscal deficit widened from 39.3% reported in the comparable year-earlier period.
Total receipts stood at 16.37 lakh crore rupees, while overall expenditure in April to September was at 21.11 lakh crore rupees. They were 51% and 43.8% of this fiscal year’s budget target.
Total receipts in the year-earlier period was at 52.2% of estimate, while expenditure narrowed from 49% a year earlier.
While announcing the federal budget for this fiscal year that started April 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revised the fiscal gap aim down to 4.9%, well below the 5.1% budget gap pegged in the Interim budget. Sitharaman also pegged the fiscal deficit target at 5.1% for the next fiscal year.In the Budget, The government stuck to its fiscal consolidation roadmap even as coalition parties demanded more funds from the Modi government and the middle class urged for tax relief measures.
The lower fiscal deficit target for 2025-26 was expected on hopes of strong tax collections, despite the government’s continued capex push that is crucial to shore up consumption and create jobs and help India achieve its aim to be world’s third largest economy by 2030.