The Centre’s fiscal deficit in April-November 2012-13 was Rs.4.13 lakh crore, or 80.4 per cent of the Budget Estimates.
In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit (gap between expenditure and revenue collection) was Rs.4.13 lakh crore in the first eight months of the current fiscal, according to Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data released here on Monday.
This is slightly better than the fiscal deficit position last year when it was 85.6 per cent of the Budget target. The improvement is mainly on account of some tightening on the expenditure front.
Net tax receipts during April-November stood at Rs.3.70 lakh crore, while total expenditure was about Rs.8.67 lakh crore.
For the full fiscal ending March, 2013, the government had budgeted the fiscal deficit at Rs.5.14 lakh crore, or 5.1 per cent of GDP.
However, it raised the target to 5.3 per cent of GDP last month.
High fuel, fertilizer and food subsidy outgo is one of the major reasons for the ballooning fiscal deficit.
