NEW DELHI: The slowing down of capital expenditure has helped the central government keep its books in order with fiscal deficit contracting by 6.6% in the first seven months (April-October) of the current financial year, according to the released by the government.
The fiscal deficit (difference between total receipts and expenditure) during the period was Rs 7.5 lakh crore, which is 46.5% of the budget target of Rs 16.13 lakh crore. In the same period the previous year, the fiscal deficit had breached Rs 8 lakh crore mark.
The central government’s spending on infrastructure and other assets (capex) has dropped by 14.7% to Rs 4.7 lakh crore during the first seven months of the year. Last year during the same period, the total capex was Rs .5 lakh crore. In the current financial year, the Centre has a target of spending Rs 11.11 lakh crore on capex.
Revenue expenditure of the government – the spending on salaries and pension payments – increased by 8.7% to Rs 20 lakh crore. The total expenditure of the government breached 51.3% of the budget target of `48.2 lakh crore. Meanwhile, the growth in gross tax collection during April-October has moderated to 10.8%, down from 12% up to September.
