India’s fiscal deficit INFISC=ECI for the first three months of the financial year that started April 1 touched 4.51 trillion Indian rupees ($54.86 billion), 25.3% of annual estimates, government data showed on Monday.
April-June net tax receipts were 4.3 trillion rupees, or 18.6% of the annual estimate, lower than 5.06 trillion rupees in the same period last year, according to the data.
Total expenditure during the period was 10.51 trillion rupees ,or 23.3% of the annual goal, lower than the 9.48 trillion rupees in the same period last year.
In the first quarter of the financial year, government’s capital expenditure or spending on building infrastructure was 2.78 trillion rupees, or 28% of the annual target, higher than 1.75 trillion rupees last year.
India aims to narrow its fiscal deficit to 5.9% of gross domestic product by the end of the current fiscal year, against 6.4% last year.