The Government has spent Rs 4.71 lakh crore on interest payments and Rs 2.62 lakh crore on subsidies up to January 2020, monthly account of the Union government stated on Saturday.
Total expenditure incurred by the government of India is Rs 22,68,329 crore (84.06% of corresponding RE 19-20), out of which Rs 20,00,595 crore is on revenue account and Rs 2,67,734 crore is on capital account.
Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 4,71,916 crore is on account of interest payments and Rs 2,62,978 crore on account of major subsidies, it said.
The government has received Rs 12,82,857 crore (66.41% of corresponding RE 19-20 of Total Receipts) up to January 2020 comprising Rs 9,98,037 crore tax revenue (Net to Centre), ARs 2,52,083 crore of Non Tax Revenue and Rs 32,737 crore of Non Debt Capital Receipts.
Non-debt capital receipts consist of recovery of loans (Rs 14,386 crore) and disinvestment proceeds (Rs 18,351 crore). As much as Rs 5,30,735 crore has been transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by government of India up to this period which is Rs 11,003 crore lower than the previous year, the Finance Ministry said.
On Friday, the National Statistical Organisation stated the April-January fiscal deficit has reached 128.5% of Rs 7.67 lakh crore revised FY20 target.
The fiscal deficit is the shortfall in a government”s income compared with its spending. It essentially means that the government is spending more than its means.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a fiscal deficit target of 3.5% of GDP for the year ending March 2021. The government is about to miss the deficit target for the third year in a row, pushing shortfall to 3.8 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal as compared to 3.3 per cent previously planned.
