Central delegation visits Kanksha, inspects gram panchayat
A delegation from the central government visited the Bid Bihar Gram panchayat under Kanksha Block of West Burdwan district today to assess the work of the area.
The central government’s fiscal deficit widened to Rs 9.82 lakh crore in April-December from Rs 9.07 lakh crore in April-November, data released by the Controller General of Accounts showed on Wednesday.
The fiscal deficit for the first nine months of the current financial year accounts for 55% of the full-year target of Rs 17.87 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit in April-December 2022 was 59.8 percent of the target for 2022-23.
The fiscal deficit in December stands at Rs 75,694 crore which is more than five times what it was in December 2022. However, for April-December 2023 as a whole, the fiscal deficit was down 1% year-on-year.
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The surge in December was spurred by a huge increase in capital expenditure, which more than doubled year-on-year to Rs 87,985 crore.
This was also responsible for pushing up the Indian government’s total expenditure last month by 7% to Rs 4.02 lakh crore.
On the income side, total receipts were down 9.5% year-on-year in December at Rs 3.26 lakh crore, with net tax revenue 11.1% lower even as gross tax revenue rose nearly 13% on the back of a 15% rise in corporate tax collections and 24% spike in the income tax mop-up.
For the April to December period, the government’s total receipts were up 13.5% at Rs 20.72 lakh crore. While tax collections have been robust, non-tax revenue crossed the Budget estimate of Rs 3.02 lakh crore in December, standing at Rs 3.12 lakh crore so far this year.
The fiscal deficit data comes a day before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tables the interim Budget for 2024-25.
Sitharaman is expected to announce a fiscal deficit target of 5.3% of the GDP for next year as the government looks to meet its medium-term objective of 4.5% by 2025-26.
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