Govt has revised upward its fiscal deficit target to 3.4% of GDP in the current fiscal year from the previously estimated 3.3%
It said that 2019-20 Budget appears to show a strong populist bent in the run-up to the general elections due by May 2019
The long-term solution lies in mapping the nation's unaccounted for wealth and considering a realistic taxation policy that covers high income groups and agricultural income
With GST revenues coming well below expectations, the Centre failed to meet its budgeted fiscal deficit target yet again
The interim Budget pegs collections from CGST for the full year at Rs 5.04 trillion
It appeared that there could be a positive impact on fiscal deficit. But, we need to look at the data more deeply
Primary deficit refers to the deficit left after subtracting interest payments from the fiscal deficit
The report also pegged fiscal deficit for FY20 at 3.2 per cent
This misplaced excitement at having uncovered some non-existent fiscal jugglery is a consequence of lazy analytical thinking which governments cheerfully exploit
In the current financial year, states are expected to witness a fiscal slippage of 0.2 percentage points to 2.8% of GDP in 2018-19
The agency expects states' aggregate revenue expenditure to grow 18.9 per cent to Rs 33.28 trillion in FY20
A string of new expenditure is clouding India's fiscal future
The biggest pressure point is from telecommunications revenue, which has been targeted at Rs 48,661 cr for the current year
On the capital side, off-budget financing of railways carried out through IRFC borrowings are outside budgetary control
Some of the experts have already projected that the fiscal deficit could rise to 3.5 per cent of the GDP
An equally big concern are divestment efforts, with year-to-date collections still at a fifth of the target of Rs 80,000 crore
Officials have admitted that there could be a combined shortfall of Rs 70,000 crore-1 trillion on GST, though the centre's own GST shortfall will not be more than Rs 29,000-30,000 crore
Fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of GDP now comes at Rs 6.28 trillion compared to what was projected at Rs 6.24 trillion in the Budget Estimates
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) will be met without any cut in capital expenditure
The government has repeatedly said it will meet its budget shortfall target of 3.3 per cent of GDP for the current financial year