April-January fiscal deficit at 64% of 2023/24 target

India's fiscal deficit for ten months of the 2023/34 financial year was 11.03 trillion rupees ($133.1 billion), or 63.6% of the estimate for the whole year, government data showed on Thursday.

Net tax revenues for the April-January period were 18.80 trillion rupees, or 81% of the annual estimate, compared with 16.89 trillion rupees in the same period last year, according to the data. The financial year began April 1, 2023.

Total expenditure during the period was 33.55 trillion rupees, or about 75% of the annual goal, compared with 31.68 trillion rupees in the same period last year.

In the first ten months of the financial year, government capital expenditure or spending on building physical infrastructure was 7.21 trillion rupees, or 76% of the annual target, higher than 5.70 trillion rupees in the same period a year earlier.

India has narrowed its fiscal deficit aim for the current financial year that ends on March 31 by 10 basis points to 5.8% of gross domestic product, and aims to bring it down to 5.1% in the next financial year. ($1 = 82.8899 Indian rupees)