India’s fiscal deficit for the initial quarter of the financial year 2023-24 has surged to Rs 6.06 lakh crore, marking a substantial rise from the Rs 3.41 lakh crore reported during the corresponding period of the previous year, as per government data released on Thursday, August 31
This Q1 fiscal deficit figure now constitutes approximately 33.9 percent of the envisioned Rs 17.87 lakh crore target for the entire fiscal year. This pronounced disparity underlines a challenging road ahead for effective fiscal management. Concurrently, the revenue gap has widened to Rs 3.02 lakh crore, a notable rise from the Rs 1.623 lakh crore recorded in the preceding year.
On the expenditure front, the government’s disbursements for Q1 surged to Rs 13.81 lakh crore, marking a substantial increment from Rs 11.27 lakh crore in the equivalent period last year. While total receipts for the first quarter reached Rs 7.751 lakh crore, they slightly decreased from Rs 7.86 lakh crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
