Fiscal deficit at 79.3 per cent of BE in Apr-Oct

New Delhi: Fiscal deficit in the first seven months of 2016-17 reached the Rs 4.23 lakh crore mark, or 79.3 per cent of the budget estimate (BE) for the whole year.

The fiscal situation in April-October worsened over the year-ago period as the deficit then stood at 74 per cent of BE. Fiscal deficit, the gap between expenditure and revenue for the entire fiscal, has been pegged at Rs 5.33 lakh crore or 3.5 per cent of GDP, in 2016-17.

As per data released by the Controller General of Accounts, tax revenue came in at Rs 5.30 lakh crore, or 50.3 per cent of the full-year BE of Rs 10,54,101 crore. Total receipts from revenue and non-debt capital of the government during the first seven months read Rs 7.27 lakh crore.

The government's Plan expenditure during the period came in at Rs 3.41 lakh core, 62 per cent of the full-year BE. During the same period last year, the government had managed to achieve 58.2 per cent of Plan expenditure estimate. The non-Plan expenditure during April-October of 2016-17 was Rs 8.09 lakh crore, or 56.7  per cent, of the whole-year estimate.

The total expenditure (Plan and non-Plan) was Rs 11.50 lakh crore as against the government's estimate for the current fiscal at Rs 19.78 lakh crore. The revenue deficit during the seven months stood at Rs 3.27 lakh crore, or 92.6 per cent of BE for 2016-17.