India's April-July fiscal deficit at Rs 3.41 trn, 20.5% of FY23 target

Net tax receipts stood at Rs 6.66 trn while total expenditure was Rs 11.26 trn, shows govt data

The central government's fiscal deficit touched 20.5 per cent of the annual target in the four months through July 2022 as against 21.3 per cent a year ago, reflecting improvement in public finance, as per official data released on Wednesday.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit - the difference between expenditure and revenue - was Rs 3.41 trillion during the April-July period this financial year.

A fiscal deficit is a reflection of government borrowings from the market.

As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the government's receipts, including taxes, stood at Rs 7.85 trillion or 34.4 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2022-23. During the year-ago period, it was nearly the same at 34.6 per cent.

The tax revenue stood at Rs 6.66 trillion or 34.4 per cent of this year's BE. Last year too, the government had managed to mop 34.2 per cent of its annual estimate during April-July.

The data further revealed that the central government's total expenditure was Rs 11.26 trillion or 28.6 per cent of the BE 2022-23, almost same as in the year-ago period.

Capital expenditure was 27.8 per cent of the full-year budget target compared to 23.2 per cent in the corresponding period last year, as per the monthly account of the Union government up to July 2022, released by the CGA.

For 2022-23, the fiscal deficit of the government is estimated to be Rs 16.61 trillion or 6.4 per cent of the GDP