India Meets Fiscal Deficit Target For FY 2018-19: Report

India has met the fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the financial year 2018-19 that ended on 31 March, according to a Reuters report citing sources.

The report said that by making cuts in state spending and higher borrowings from small savings funds, the government was able to meet the target.

The government missed the tax collections target by over Rs 1 trillion ($14.41 billion) which includes about Rs 500 billion shortfall in income tax receipts, the source told Reuters. Further details on the expenditure cuts in the fund allocations to different ministries were not revealed by the anonymous source.

Official data on the same has not been released.

In the interim budget 2019, the fiscal deficit target was revised upward to 3.4 percent of GDP from the earlier estimate of 3.3 percent.

Last week, Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg told PTI that the government was "very close to meeting" the fiscal deficit target.

The government at many occasions had indicated the possibility of some shortfall on indirect taxes collection side for the fiscal year 2018-19 but not on the direct tax front.

The revised estimate for direct tax collection (includes corporate tax and personal income tax) was at Rs 12 lakh crore, higher than the original budget to collect Rs 11.50 lakh crore in 2018-19. GST collection is pegged at Rs 6.43 lakh crore, which is lower than the earlier budgeted target of Rs 7.43 lakh crore. Customs collection in 2018-19 is estimated at Rs 1.30 lakh crore.