SME Times News Bureau | 25 May, 2015
The government has contained the fiscal deficit at 4 percent of GDP against its own target of 4.1 percent for the financial year 2014-15, while it was 4.4 percent during 2013-14.
The revenue deficit has also been confined to 2.8 percent, beating the budget target of 2.9 per cent for the last fiscal.
An official statement said as a result of prudent policies and commitment to fiscal consolidation, the fiscal deficit at the end of 2014-15 stands over five lakh crore rupees.
The lower fiscal deficit reduces the government's expenditure on interest payment and unlocks funds for investments in social welfare programmes as well as in frastructure development.
On the other hand, the gross tax collection has also registered a growth of 9 percent in 2014-15 as compared to the last fiscal. The tax collection stands at over 12 lakh 45 thousand crore rupees in 2014-15.
The statement also said that devolution of tax collections to states at the end of 2014-15 was around 3.37 lakh crore rupees, which is higher by 19,578 crore rupees over the previous financial year.
Besides, Plan Expenditure at the end of 2014-15 stood at around 4.35 lakh crore rupees while Non-Plan Expenditure during the same year has been 11,91,140 crore rupees.
