FY11 fiscal deficit below govt estimates

The government contained its fiscal deficit , the gap between overall expenditure and receipts, at 4.7 per cent of GDP during 2010-11, much lower than the revised estimate of 5.1 per cent, a development which provide much needed comfort to the Centre fighting stubborn inflation .

The deficit finally stood at Rs 3,69,043 crore for the fiscal ended March 2011, constituting 4.69 per cent of GDP at Rs 78,75,627 crore, the official figures released today showed.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech in February this year revised downward the fiscal deficit number to 5.1 per cent against the earlier estimate of 5.5 per cent for 2010-11, on the back of higher-than-expected realisation from auctioning of 3G and BWA spectrum.

For the current fiscal the Government expects to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.6 per cent. The Finance Minister has already expressed the confidence of meeting the target.

Fiscal deficit trend of last year is also quite encouraging, he said earlier in the day.

"It is little less than what I projected in the revised estimate and this year also I will be able to keep the fiscal deficit target," he said.

As per data released by Controller General of Accounts, the Centre's fiscal deficit was lower by around Rs 32,000 crore over the revised estimates for 2010-11 on the back of better revenue realisation and expenditure compression.

Total fiscal deficit during the year stood at Rs 3,69,043 crore, which was 92 per cent of the revised estimate of Rs 4,00,998 crore, showing an improvement on the fiscal front.