(ET)
In a big announcement, FM Sitharaman informed Parliament during Budget presentation that India’s fiscal deficit is now pegged at 3.8% for FY20, a significant loosening over the widely touted target of 3.3%.
All eyes were on whether or not would Sitharaman’s spending and revenue projections come across as credible, especially after the last Budget’s growth estimates which had found no takers among economists from the very outset.
India’s fiscal deficit — the gap between expenditure and revenue — touched 114.8% of 2019-20 Budget Estimate at Rs 8.07 lakh crore at the end of November. With the aim to limit fiscal deficit at 3.3% of GDP, Modi govt had originally pegged its projections for the current financial year at Rs 7.03 lakh crore.
