Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the Interim Budget 2024 in the Lok Sabha on February 1, 2024.

The revised fiscal deficit for financial year 2024-25 is estimated at 5.1 per cent of the GDP, down from 5.8 per cent for the current financial year 2024 (FY24), Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her interim Budget speech on Thursday.

“The revised estimate of the fiscal deficit is 5.8% of GDP, improving on the budget estimate notwithstanding moderation in the nominal growth estimates,” the Finance Minister said.

The fiscal deficit is the difference between the government expenditure and income. As per data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Wednesday, the Union government’s fiscal deficit touched ₹9.82 lakh crore or 55 per cent of the annual Budget target at December-end 2023. In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was at 59.8 per cent of the budget estimates of 2022-23. The fiscal deficit was estimated to be at Rs 17.86 lakh crore or 5.9 per cent of the GDP for 2023-24.

The revised estimates of 2023-24 of total receipts other than borrowings is ₹27.56 lakh crore, of which tax receipts are ₹23.24 lakh crore, the Finance Minister said. She added that revenue receipts at ₹30.3 lakh crore are expected to be higher than Budget Estimates.

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The Finance Minister proposed to raise capital expenditure outlay in the interim Budget 2024-25 by 11.1 per cent to ₹11.1 lakh crore — 3.4 per cent of the GDP. The government will borrow a gross of ₹14.13 lakh crore from the markers in the fiscal year, the Finance Minister added. She said GST has reduced the compliance burden, and the average monthly GST collection doubled to ₹1.66 lakh crore. The government resorts to market borrowings to bridge the gap between expenditure and revenue (fiscal deficit).

The Finance Minister said the tax receipts are projected at ₹26.02 lakh crore, while total receipts other than borrowings at ₹30.8 lakh crore. The total expenditure is estimated at ₹47.66 lakh crore.

The Centre will continue 50-year interest-free loans for capital expenditure to States for one more year, with total outlay of Rs 1.3 lakh crore, the Minister announced.

The interim Budget 2024-25 presented by Ms. Sitharaman is the last of the Modi 2.0 government before the upcoming general elections. Technically a vote on account, the interim Budget seeks Parliament’s approval to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India in advance to meet the Centre’s expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year, which is April-July period. Once the new administration takes charge, which is expected around June, it will come up with a final Budget for 2024-25 in July.

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This is a record sixth time that Ms. Sitharaman has presented the Union Budget in a row, which includes five annual Budgets. Previously, the record was held by former PM Morarji Desai. Former Finance Ministers Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P. Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha had also presented five budgets in a row.