India’s fiscal deficit during the financial year 2023-24 stood at Rs 16.54 lakh crore, which was 95.3 per cent of the budgeted target, according to the latest official data released on May 31, 2024. The FY24 fiscal deficit, however, stood at 5.6 per cent of the GDP, which was lower than the revised estimate of 5.8 per cent.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit, or gap between expenditure and revenue, was at Rs 16.53 lakh crore.

In the revised estimate for 2023-24, the government had projected the fiscal deficit of Rs 17.34 lakh crore, or 5.8 per cent of the GDP, in the interim Budget tabled on February 1 in Parliament.

According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, the government managed to meet the revenue collection target.

Net tax collection was at Rs 23.26 lakh crore in FY24, while the expenditure stood at Rs 44.42 lakh crore.

Vivek Jalan, partner at Tax Connect Advisory Services LLP, said, “The total expenditure has increased from around Rs.41.9 Lakh Crore to around Rs.44.4 Lakh Crore, an uptick of 6% approx and yet the fiscal deficit has reduced from around Rs.17.4 Lakh Crore to around Rs.16.5 Lakh Crore, a reduction of 5% approx. This is majorly due to the uptick in Tax Revenues from around Rs.21 Lakh Crore to around Rs.23.3 Lakh Crore an uptick of 11% approx.”

Hence, he added, the encouraging Fiscal Deficit numbers can be dedicated to the taxpayers of the Country. The efficiency of the CBDT and CBIC and especially the ground covered in implementation of Artificial intelligence in unearthing fake transactions have also to be appreciated by Honest taxpayers.