Centre's fiscal deficit rose 120% of Budgetary target

The Centre's fiscal deficit rose 120% of its Budgetary estimates for 2017-18, pushing it on the verge of borrowing more, if the tax and non-tax revenues have not fared well in March.

The data for March revenues will be out in the end of April.

The fiscal deficit or the gap between the government's revenue and expenditure, stood at Rs 7.16 lakh crore in the February-April period of the current financial year, against the revised estimate of Rs 5.95 lakh crore.

The revenue deficit stood at Rs 5.24 lakh crore, against the revised estimate of Rs 4.34 lakh crore.

The data showed that the Centre earned over Rs 10.35 lakh crore through tax revenues and a little over Rs 1.42 lakh crore through non-tax revenues. Over Rs 1 lakh crore came from recovery of debts.

In these 11 months of the fiscal year, the Centre mopped up Rs 92,493 crore through PSU disinvestment, while the revised target for 2017-18 was set at Rs 1 lakh crore.

Officials said the government finances came under pressure in 2017-18 partly due to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. The indirect tax revenue collection was hit by about Rs 90,000 crore this year, as the government would collect the GST for only 11 months in 2017-18. The GST collection for March will come after April 20, which will be accounted for in the next financial year.