Fiscal deficit touched 86 pc in 8 months

India’s fiscal deficit reached Rs 3.53 lakh crore in the first eight months (April-November) period against the budgeted Rs 4.13 lakh crore for the full fiscal 2011-12, heightening possibilities that the Centre may resort to additional market borrowing, squeezing credit space for the private sector.

Government data showed that the fiscal deficit for April-November stood close to 86 per cent of the budgeted target, compared with 49 per cent in the same period last year.

The data also showed that government’s revenue deficit in the first eight months to the fiscal was over 91 per cent of the budgetary target. Net tax receipts were Rs 3.2 lakh crore while total expenditure stood at Rs 7.61 lakh crore.

With just three months to the end of the fiscal, analysts and policymakers feel that it would be difficult for the government to stick to 4.6 per cent of the fiscal deficit target as announced in the budget this year. A senior Finance Ministry official said the government might have to resort to extra market borrowing since the slowdown in the economic growth had put pressure on revenue collection and that meeting budgeted fiscal deficit target was out of the question.

The government has already unveiled Rs 52,800 crore of extra borrowing for the remainder of this year.