India’s FY20 Fiscal Deficit Widens to 4.59% of GDP, Higher than Budget Aim of 3.8%

• This would mean that the government will have limited space to provide economic relief to businesses and individuals hit by coronavirus crisis
• In absolute terms, total receipts of the government were ₹17.5 lakh crore against the estimate of ₹19.31 lakh crore

New Delhi: India's fiscal deficit for the last financial year that ran through March, missed the government estimate by nearly 80 basis points, data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday showed. 

India ended the year with a fiscal deficit of 4.59% of gross domestic product, against the target of 3.8%, the government data showed.

This would mean that the government will have limited space to provide economic relief to businesses and individuals hit by the coronavirus crisis at a time when the country's central bank has already used a lot of its fire power.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while unveiling the budget in February pegged the fiscal deficit for 2019-20 at 3.8%, up from 3.3% in the original budget estimate.

The increase in the fiscal deficit has been mainly on account of shortfall in revenue collection during 2019-20. The revenue receipts during the year worked out to be only 90% of the revised estimate.

In absolute terms, total receipts of the government were ₹17.5 lakh crore against the estimate of ₹19.31 lakh crore.

The data showed the government's total expenditure was₹26.86 lakh crore, lower than ₹26.98 lakh crore projected earlier.

The revenue deficit during the fiscal soared to 3.27% of the GDP as against 2.4% in the revised estimates.

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