Economic Survey, 2022: India's Fiscal Deficits And Government Debt Have Increased

The Economic Survey, 2022 has been released, by the union finance minister before the budget, which was authored by a team led by India's Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). The report has mentioned, "The revenue receipts of the central government during April- November 2021 have gone up by 67.2% (YoY), as against an estimated growth of 9.6% in the 2021-22 Budget Estimates. The tax collections have been buoyant for both direct and indirect taxes. The gross monthly GST collections have crossed Rs. 1 lakh crore consistently since July 2021."

Significantly, the fiscal support provided by the union government to the economy along with the health response has caused the fiscal deficit. The union government's debt has also risen in 2020-21. However, the report added that the country has seen a strong rebound in government revenues in 2021-22 so far.

On account of a sustained revenue collection and a targeted expenditure policy by the union government, the country's fiscal deficit for April-November 2021 has been contained at 46.2% of Budget Estimates. This is nearly one-third of the proportion reached during the same period of the earlier 2 years (135.1% of Budget Estimates, in April-November 2020 and 114.8% of Budget Estimates in April-November 2019).

The Economic Survey, 2022 mentioned, "The primary deficit during the period April to November 2021 turned up at nearly half of the level it had reached during April to November 2019. This implies that the Government has the fiscal capacity to maintain the support, and ramp up capital expenditure when required. The strong revival in revenues also provides Government with fiscal space to provide additional support as well, if necessary."