India's fiscal deficit falls to Rs 3,69,043 crore

The government contained its fiscal deficit, the gap between overall expenditure and receipts, at 4.7 of GDP during 2010-11 much lower than the revised estimate of 5.1 per cent, a development which provide much needed comfort to the Centre fighting stubborn inflation.

The deficit finally stood at Rs 3,69,043 crore for the fiscal ended March 2011, constituting 4.69 per cent of GDP at Rs 78,75,627 crore, the official figures released showed.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech in February this year revised downward the fiscal deficit number to 5.1 per cent against the earlier estimate of 5.5 per cent for 2010-11, on the back of higher-than-expected realisation from auctioning of 3G and BWA spectrum.

For the current fiscal the Government expects to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.6 per cent. The Finance Minister has already expressed the confidence of meeting the target. Fiscal deficit trend of last year is also quite encouraging, he said earlier in the day.

"It is little less than what I projected in the revised estimate and this year also I will be able to keep the fiscal deficit target," he said.

As per data released by Controller General of Accounts, the Centre's fiscal deficit was lower by around Rs 32,000 crore over the revised estimates for 2010-11 on the back of better revenue realisation and expenditure compression.
The total fiscal deficit during the year stood at Rs 3,69,043 crore, which was 92 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 4,00,998 crore, showing an improvement on the fiscal front.

The centre's fiscal deficit grew to over 6 per cent in 2008-09, after the government provided stimulus to the slowing economy by resorting to a slew of tax cuts and public spending.

In fact, that year fiscal deficit should have been contained to half--3 per cent of GDP--as per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.

In 2009-10, fiscal deficit stood at 6.6 per cent. Revenue receipts in 2010-11 were Rs 7,94,277 crore, which was 101.3 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 7,83,833 crore.

Of it, tax receipts during the fiscal was Rs 5,72,790 crore or 101.6 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 5,63,685 crore. Non-tax receipts stood at Rs 2,21,487 crore, which was 100.6 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 2,20,148, the statement said.

Non-debt capital receipts in 2010-11 stood at Rs 35,599 crore. This was 112.1 per cent of the Rs 31,745 crore fixed in the revised estimates by the government.

The total receipts last fiscal were Rs 8,29,876 crore or 101.8 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 8,15,578 crore.
In the last fiscal, non-plan expenditure was 8,21,569. This is the same as the revised estimate. The plan expenditure in 2010-11 was 3,77,350 crore which was 95.5 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 3,95,024 crore.

Total expenditure during the fiscal was Rs 11,98,919 crore or 98.6 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 12,16,576 crore. The country's revenue deficit in 2010-11 stood at Rs 2,44,853 crore. This was 90.7 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 2,69,844 crore.