New Delhi: With the good performance in almost all sectors, including coal and refinery products, India’s eight core sectors posted a growth of 7.8 per cent in November against a 5.7 per cent expansion in the year-ago period, while the government’s fiscal deficit at the end of November stood at Rs 9.06 lakh crore or 50.7 per cent of the full-year budget estimate, two separate government data showed on Friday.
At 7.8 per cent, the growth in India’s eight key infrastructure industries — coal, crude oil, steel, cement, electricity, fertilisers, refinery products, and natural gas — in November is the lowest in six months and sharply down from the 12.1 per cent recorded in October this year though, however the commerce ministry on Friday revised this figure to 12.0 per cent.
As per the data shown by the commerce ministry, all sectors except crude oil and cement recorded healthy production growth in the month under review, while coal and refinery products output recorded double-digit growth in November. “For April-November, the core industries' production was 8.6 per cent higher year-on-year as against a growth of 8.1 per cent in the first eight months of 2022-23,” the ministry said.
As for fiscal deficit, the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), however, showed that in absolute terms, the fiscal deficit — the difference between expenditure and revenue — was at Rs 9,06,584 crore during the April-October period of 2023-24. In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was at 58.9 percent of the budget estimates of 2022-23.
As far as fiscal consolidation is concerned, the government intends to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26. For 2023-24, the fiscal deficit of the government is estimated to be at Rs 17.86 lakh crore or 5.9 per cent of the GDP.
“The Government of India received Rs 17.4 lakh crore (64.3 percent of corresponding BE 2023-24 of total receipts) up to November 2023 comprising Rs 14.35 lakh crore tax revenue (net), Rs 2.84 lakh crore of non-tax revenue and Rs 25,463 crore of non-debt capital receipts,” the data showed.
As per the CGA data, total expenditure incurred by the central government was at Rs 26.52 lakh crore (58.9 percent of corresponding BE 2023-24) during April-November 2023. “Out of the total expenditure, Rs 20.66 lakh crore was on revenue account and Rs 5.85 lakh crore was on capital account.
