The Business Bytes
THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU
NEW DELHI, MARCH 28, 2025
The Centre’s fiscal deficit stood at 85.8 per cent of the annual target by the end of February 2025, as per the latest data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday.
In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit — the shortfall between expenditure and revenue — was ₹13.46 lakh crore during the April-February period of the 2024-25 financial year. This was slightly lower than the 86.5 per cent recorded in the same period last year, based on the revised estimates (RE) of 2023-24.
The government’s net tax revenue stood at ₹20 lakh crore, accounting for 78.8% of the revised estimates for 2024-25, compared to 79.6 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, total expenditure reached ₹38.93 lakh crore, or 82.5 per cent of the full-year RE, marginally lower than 83.4 per cent in the previous year.
The Union Budget 2024-25, presented earlier in Parliament, pegged the fiscal deficit target at 4.8 per cent of GDP, down from an earlier estimate of 4.9 per cent, with a further reduction to 4.4 per cent for 2025-26. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit for 2024-25 is projected at ₹15.69 lakh crore.
Among revenue expenditures, ₹9.52 lakh crore was allocated for interest payments, while ₹3.63 lakh crore was spent on major subsidies during the first eleven months of the financial year. Additionally, the Centre transferred ₹11.80 lakh crore to state governments as their share of taxes, marking an increase of ₹1.47 lakh crore compared to the previous year.
