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The Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in its latest data has said that the government's fiscal deficit stood at Rs 4.68 lakh crore or 31.1 per cent of the Budget estimates at the end of August 2021. The deficit figure in the current fiscal appears much better than the previous financial year when it had soared to 109.3 per cent of the estimates, mainly on account of a jump in expenditure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the data, in absolute terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between expenditure and revenue was Rs 4,68,009 crore at end of August. For the current financial year, the government expects the deficit at 6.8 per cent of GDP or Rs 15,06,812 crore. It also stated that the central government's total receipts stood at Rs 8.08 lakh crore or 40.9 per cent of the corresponding Budget Estimate (BE) 2021-22 up to August, 2021.

It further indicated that the total receipts were 16.8 per cent of the BE of 2020-21 during the corresponding period of the last financial year. Of the total receipts, the tax revenue was Rs 6.44 lakh crore or 41.7 per cent of BE. The tax revenue was only 17.4 per cent of BE of 2020-21 in the year-ago period. Centre's total expenditure was Rs 12.76 lakh crore or 36.7 per cent of BE up to August 2021. The fiscal deficit for 2020-21 was 9.3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), better than 9.5 per cent projected in the revised estimates in the Budget in February.