Govt's fiscal deficit crosses 62 pc of full-year budget target in Nov: CGA data

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) The Centre's fiscal deficit at the end of November stood at Rs 9.76 lakh crore, or 62.3 per cent of the annual budget target for 2025-26, compared to 52.5 per cent in the year-ago period, according to government data released on Wednesday.

The Centre estimates the fiscal deficit (the gap between expenditure and revenue) during 2025-26 at 4.4 per cent of GDP, or Rs 15.69 lakh crore.

According to data released by the Controller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the central government received Rs 19.49 lakh crore (55.7 per cent of the corresponding BE 2025-26 of total receipts) up to November 2025.

This comprised Rs 13,93,946 crore of tax revenue (net to Centre), Rs 5,16,366 crore of non-tax revenue and Rs 38,927 crore of non-debt capital receipts.

CGA data showed Rs 9,36,561 crore was transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the Centre during the period, a rise of Rs 1,24,498 crore year-on-year.

The total expenditure incurred by the Centre was Rs 29.26 lakh crore (57.8 per cent of the corresponding BE 2025-26), out of which Rs 22,67,700 crore was on revenue account and Rs 6,58,210 crore on capital account.

Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 7,45,765 crore was towards interest payments and Rs 2,88,333 crore on account of major subsidies.

Commenting on the data, Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist with Icra, said the rating agency anticipates a shortfall of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the Centre's gross tax revenues in the current fiscal relative to the FY2025-26 budget estimate (BE).

"Overall, we expect the potential miss on the taxes side to be offset by higher-than-budgeted non-tax revenues and sizeable expenditure savings on the revenue spending front. As a result, we do not anticipate fiscal slippage at the current juncture," Nayar said. PTI NKD NKD BAL BAL