India’s fiscal deficit for April-September was Rs 4.75 lakh crore ($56.50 billion), or over 29% of the estimate for the financial year, government data showed on Wednesday. Data showed that net tax receipts for the first six months of the current financial year were 12.65 trillion rupees, or 49% of the annual target, compared with 11.6 trillion rupees for the same period last year. India’s financial year runs from April through March.
Total government expenditure during the period was 21.1 trillion rupees, or about 44% of the annual goal, close to 21.2 trillion rupees in the same period last year. The government’s spending has been lower due to general elections.
For the first six months, the government’s capital expenditure or spending on building physical infrastructure was 4.15 trillion rupees, or 37% of the annual target, as against 4.9 trillion rupees for the same period a year earlier.