New Delhi, July 31: India’s fiscal deficit up to last month during the current fiscal touched Rs 4.42 lakh crore or 80.8 per cent of the Budget estimates for 2017-18, official data showed Monday.
According to figures released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the deficit in the April-June period was 61.1 per cent of the Budget in the same period of last fiscal year.
The 2017-18 deficit — the difference between revenue and expenditure — has been pegged at Rs 5.46 lakh crore, as compared to the deficit of Rs 5.34 lakh crore for the last fiscal.
As per the CGA data, tax revenue during the period under review was Rs 1.77 lakh crore, or 14.5 per cent of the estimates, while total receipts, from revenue and non-debt capital, during the fiscal’s first three months, were Rs 2.09 lakh crore, or 13.1 per cent of the estimates for the current year.
Total expenditure during the April-June period was Rs 6.51 lakh crore, or 30.3 per cent of the entire fiscal’s estimate. The revenue deficit during the period under review was over Rs 3.83 lakh crore, or 119.1 per cent, of the estimates.
Core sector growth falls to 0.4 pc in June
The growth of eight core sectors slowed to 0.4 per cent in June due to contraction in output of coal, refinery products, fertiliser and cement.
The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — was 7 per cent in June last year.
The production of coal declined by 6.7 per cent, refinery products by 0.2 per cent, fertiliser by 3.6 per cent and cement by 5.8 per cent, as per the official data.
Crude oil output rose to 0.6 per cent last month as against a decline of 4.3 per cent in June 2016.
According to the data, natural gas output rose by 6.4 per cent in June.
