Modi govt may miss Budget targets due to Covid-19, says official

By Vrishti Beniwal

India is likely to miss its budget estimates as the coronavirus crisis strains the government’s finances, a top government official said.

“We may not be able to achieve our budget estimate figures,” Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said Thursday, referring to the economic growth, revenue and fiscal deficit goals for the current year. “This year may be a lost year for us.”

While Bajaj didn’t specify any new target for the budget deficit, the median in a Bloomberg survey of economists is for the gap to widen to 7% of gross domestic product -- double the government’s goal for this year. The pandemic has slowed tax revenue and put resources under pressure after the administration pledged measures to support the economy, which is seen contracting for the first time in more than four decades this year.

That’s led to calls for getting the Reserve Bank of India to directly fund the fiscal deficit. But there’s no plan on the table to directly sell sovereign bonds to the central bank, nor has a discussion taken place with them on that topic, Bajaj said.

“The kind of contraction some of the people are mentioning may also not turn out,” he said, without giving any forecast. The International Monetary Fund estimates the nation’s GDP to shrink 4.5% this year, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is forecasting a 5% decline. Those are milder than Bloomberg Economics’ projection for a 10.6% plunge.

“I am expecting a V-shaped recovery,” Bajaj said, while pointing to latest revenue data that showed advance tax collections were good.

“June and July have been promising months, more than what we anticipated,” he said. “Agriculture is a bright spot in this difficulty.”