Centre’s fiscal deficit at 36.5% of FY26 target in H1, up from 29% last year

The central government recorded the fiscal deficit for the first half of the financial year 2025-26 (H1FY26) at Rs 5,73,123 crore.

Data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) said this translates to 36.5% of the Centre’s Budget Estimates (BE) for FY26. During the first six months of FY25, the fiscal deficit stood at 29% of the BE.

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CAG report said the Centre’s total receipts up to September amounted to Rs 17,30,216 crore, or 49.5% of the BE for the year, including Rs 12,29,370 crore from tax revenue (net to Centre), Rs 4,66,076 crore from non-tax revenue, and Rs 34,770 crore from non-debt capital receipts, the CAG said.

Total government expenditure during the period was Rs 23.03 trillion, or 43.5% of the annual target, against Rs 21.11 trillion in the year-ago period.

Non-tax revenue stood at Rs 4.66 trillion, or 79.9% of the budget estimates, and total revenue receipts stood at Rs 16.95 trillion, or 49.6%, of the estimates for the fiscal.

The Centre transferred Rs 6,31,751 crore to state governments as their share of taxes, Rs 86,948 crore higher than the corresponding period last year, the CAG report said.

Fiscal deficit is the gap between the government’s total expenditure and its total non-borrowed receipts.