According to official data, India’s fiscal deficit during April-May stood at Rs 2,03,921 crore or 12.3 per cent of the target for the entire current fiscal, mainly due to higher expenditure. Total receipts stood at Rs 3.81 lakh crore or 16.7 per cent of FY23 BE at the end of May, while total expenditure was Rs 5.85 lakh crore or 14.8 per cent of this year’s BE.
The fiscal deficit, which is the difference between the government’s total expenditure and revenue, stood at 8.2 per cent of the Budget Estimate (RE) for FY22 during the same period a year ago. The fiscal deficit of the government for the entire financial year 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 16,61,196 crore.
In May, net tax revenue stood at 15.9 per cent of FY23 target as against 15.1 per cent in BE 2021-22 in the year-ago period. In real terms, net tax revenue during April-May 2022-23 stood at Rs 3,07,589 crore, as per the latest data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the annual budget in February, set the fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal year 2022-23 at 6.4 per cent of GDP, as against 6.7 per cent in the previous fiscal.
The government’s total receipt at the end of May stood at Rs 3.81 lakh crore or 16.7 per cent of the budget estimate for 2022-23. According to the data, the collection in the corresponding period of the last fiscal was around 18 per cent of the BE of 2021-22.
According to the data, the total expenditure of the central government at the end of May stood at Rs 5.85 lakh crore or 14.8 per cent of this year’s budget estimate (BE). It was 13.7 per cent of BE in the same period.
Sunil Kumar Sinha, Chief Economist India Ratings and Research said, “April-May 2022 net tax revenue grew by 31.7 per cent over the previous year. Though revenue receipts grew by only 2 per cent during April-May 2022, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) is of the view that continuing high inflation is expected to lead to higher nominal GDP for the central government. This will help in achieving your tax collection target for FY23.
He said the capital expenditure (capex) with the central government in FY 2022-23 has been 70.1 per cent annual capital expenditure growth in the first two months of FY23. Ind-Ra is of the view that while the cut in excise duty for petrol and diesel will impact union excise duty collection, a spurt in other revenues is likely to offset the fall in excise duty collection. “There is no major threat to the government’s fiscal deficit target even though the fiscal deficit during the first two months of FY 2013 is 65.6 per cent higher than the previous year.”
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