India’s fiscal deficit for the first ten months of the current financial year reached ₹9.81 lakh crore, accounting for 63% of the full-year budget estimate, according to government data released on Friday. This marks an improvement compared with the same period last year, when the deficit had touched 74.5% of the annual target.
Between April and January, the Centre’s total receipts stood at ₹27.09 lakh crore, representing 79.5% of the budgeted goal. Overall expenditure during the period was ₹36.90 lakh crore, or 74.3% of the full-year target.
Revenue collections showed steady progress. Revenue receipts amounted to ₹26.52 lakh crore, including ₹20.94 lakh crore in tax revenue and ₹5.57 lakh crore from non-tax sources. Tax collections reached 78.3% of the annual estimate, higher than the 74.4% recorded in the corresponding period last year. Non-tax revenue achieved 83.5% of the target, though this was lower than the 88.1% level seen a year earlier.
A significant boost to non-tax revenue came from the Reserve Bank of India’s dividend transfer of ₹2.69 lakh crore to the central government, up from ₹2.11 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.
Meanwhile, the revenue deficit for the April–January period stood at ₹1.96 lakh crore, equivalent to 37.3% of the budgeted estimate for the full financial year.