India’s fiscal deficit touches Rs 1.62 trillion in April-May, at 9.6% of FY27 target

India’s fiscal deficit stood at Rs 1.62 trillion during the first two months of the financial year (April-May FY27), accounting for 9.6 per cent of the full-year Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 16.96 trillion, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Tuesday.

In the corresponding period of the previous financial year, the fiscal deficit was significantly lower at Rs 131.6 billion.

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For FY27, the Centre has budgeted a fiscal deficit of 4.3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or Rs 16.96 trillion.

The government’s total receipts during April-May stood at Rs 7.19 trillion, or 19.7 per cent of the Budget Estimate for FY27. This included Rs 3.48 trillion in net tax revenue, Rs 3.51 trillion in non-tax revenue and Rs 19,664 crore in non-debt capital receipts.

Net tax receipts were marginally lower than the Rs 3.6 trillion collected during the same period last year, while non-tax revenue remained robust at around Rs 3.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Centre’s total expenditure rose to Rs 8.81 trillion, compared with Rs 7.5 trillion in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. This represents 16.5 per cent of the Budget Estimate for FY27.

Revenue expenditure stood at Rs 6.30 trillion, while capital expenditure—a key indicator of government spending on infrastructure and asset creation—rose to Rs 2.51 trillion from Rs 2.2 trillion a year ago.

Within revenue expenditure, the government spent Rs 1.81 trillion on interest payments and Rs 75,542 crore on major subsidies during the April-May period.

The Centre also transferred Rs 1.76 trillion to states as their share of taxes during the first two months of FY27, Rs 12,086 crore more than the amount devolved during the corresponding period of the previous year.