Budget pegs fiscal deficit at 5.9% for FY'24; to be brought below 4.5% by 2025-26

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced a lower fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent for FY24 while retaining it at 6.4 per cent for the current financial year.She had projected a 6.4 per cent fiscal deficit the gap between expenditure and revenue for the current financial year ending March 31, 2023, in her last Budget.The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 24.3 lakh crore, of which the net tax receipts are Rs 20.9 lakh crore.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced a lower fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent for FY24 while retaining it at 6.4 per cent for the current financial year.

She had projected a 6.4 per cent fiscal deficit – the gap between expenditure and revenue – for the current financial year ending March 31, 2023, in her last Budget.

''The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 24.3 lakh crore, of which the net tax receipts are Rs 20.9 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs 41.9 lakh crore, of which the capital expenditure is about Rs 7.3 lakh crore,'' she said in her Budget speech.

''In my Budget Speech for 2021-22, I had announced that we plan to continue the path of fiscal consolidation, reaching a fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 with a fairly steady decline over the period. We have adhered to this path, and I reiterate my intention to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26,'' she said.

To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023-24, she said, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.8 lakh crore.

''The balance financing is expected to come from small savings and other sources. The gross market borrowings are estimated at Rs 15.4 lakh crore,'' she added.

The minister also announced a new savings scheme, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, for two years to 2025 with a maximum deposit limit of Rs 2 lakh and an interest rate of 7.5 per cent.

She added that 50-year interest-free loans to state governments have to be spent on capital expenditure within 2023-24.

The minister announced that the monthly income scheme limit would be doubled to Rs 9 lakh and Rs 15 lakh for joint accounts. The finance minister said that indirect tax proposals would boost green mobility and electric vehicles (EVs).

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