India's April-Dec fiscal deficit at 55% of FY24 target: Govt data

India's fiscal deficit for the first nine months of FY24 was Rs 9.82 lakh crore, or 55% of the estimate for FY24, government data showed on Wednesday.

Net tax revenues for the April-December period were Rs 17.3 lakh crore, or about 74.2% of the annual estimate, compared with Rs 15.56 lakh crore in the same period last year, according to the data. The financial year began April 1, 2023.

Total expenditure during the period was Rs 30.54 lakh crore, or about 68% of the annual goal, compared with Rs 28.18 lakh crore in the same period last year.

In the first nine months of the financial year, government capital expenditure or spending on building physical infrastructure was Rs 6.74 lakh crore, or 67.3% of the annual target, higher than 4.90 trillion rupees in the same period a year earlier.

India aims to narrow its fiscal deficit to 5.9% of gross domestic product by the end of this fiscal year, from 6.4% last year.

With inputs from Reuters