new Delhi. The fiscal deficit of the central government increased to Rs 10.75 lakh crore in the first eight months of the current financial year 2020-21, which is 135.1 per cent of the budgetary estimate for the financial year. The fiscal deficit has increased due to the fall in central government revenue as economic activity has been affected due to Corona’s havoc.
Government revenue
According to data released on Thursday by the Union Finance Ministry, the revenue receipts of the central government as of November 2020 were Rs 8,30,851 crore, which is 37 per cent of the total receipts of the budget estimate for the fiscal year 2020-21. This includes tax revenue of Rs 6,88,430 crore, non-tax revenue of Rs 1,24,280 crore and non-debt capital receipts of Rs 18,141 crore.
Government expenditure
The total expenditure of the Government of India stood at Rs 19,06,358 crore, which is 63 per cent of the budget estimate for the entire financial year. This includes revenue account expenditure of Rs 16,65,200 crore and capital account expenditure of Rs 2,41,158 crore. Of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 3,83,425 crore is on interest payments and Rs 2,02,119 crore on major grants.
Fiscal deficit 135 percent of budget estimate
Thus, the total fiscal deficit at the end of November is Rs 10,75,507 crore, which is 135.1 per cent of the budgetary estimate for the financial year. Whereas during the last financial year 2019-20, the fiscal deficit at the end of November was 114.8 per cent of the budgetary estimate. The central government had projected a fiscal deficit of Rs 7.96 lakh crore in the budget this year, which was estimated to be 3.5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
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