NEW DELHI: The central government’s fiscal deficit reached 45% of the budget target in the first seven months of the current financial year. According to data released by the government on Thursday, the fiscal deficit of the government in April-October 2023 reached Rs 8.03 lakh crore as against the full-year budget target of Rs 17.87 lakh crore.
Gross tax collection of the central government in the first seven months of the current financial year stood at Rs 18.35 lakh crore, showing a 14% year-on-year growth. The government has budgeted for Rs 33.60 lakh crore gross tax collection during the financial year.
The buoyancy in the tax collection is largely driven by direct taxes with income tax mop-up showing 31% year-on-year growth and corporate taxes growing at 17.4%. Central GST collections at Rs 4.68 lakh crore till October 2023, showed a growth of 13.3%.
On the spending front, the Central government’s capital expenditure in the April-October 2023 period stood at Rs 5.47 lakh crore against the full year target of Rs 10 lakh crore. This is also 33% higher than the year-ago period. Total expenditure of the government stood at Rs 23.9 lakh crore, which is 53% of the budget target of Rs 45 lakh crore.
Meanwhile, the output of eight core sectors grew at 12.1% year-on-year in October 2023 from 9.2% in the previous month. The strong growth was led by coal, cement and electricity sectors which witnessed 18.4% 16-month high), 17.1% (two-month high) and 20.3% (17-month high) growth respectively in October 2023.