Fiscal deficit to be lower than 3.3% target: Piyush Goyal
New Delhi, July 2: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday expressed confidence that the government will not only meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent, but it will do even better than that.
He said while there were perceptions that the target will not be met, he was hopeful that his government will not only meet the target but "will actually do better than our budgeted fiscal deficit".
Goyal said this would be achieved on the back of robust revenue collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which, he said, would cross Rs 13 lakh crore for the whole year.
According to government data, India's budgetary fiscal deficit for the two month period of April and May stood at 55.3 per cent -- Rs 3.45 lakh crore -- of the full year's target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore.
Earlier, the Finance Minister had assured that the government was monitoring and working to ensure that fiscal deficit will be maintained at 3.3 per cent despite this being an election year.
"We will meet the fiscal deficit target despite this being a year when traditionally -- as you would find in history be it 2013-14 or 2007 to 2009 period -- fiscal deficit, macroeconomic stability, good governence all were thrown to the wind for political exigencies," he had said.
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Baramati plane crash: CID questions VSR Ventures owner
Pune (PTI): The Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department on Thursday questioned V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, which operated the aircraft involved in the Baramati crash that killed deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, a CID officer said.
“The statement of V K Singh is being recorded,” said the CID officer, without disclosing more details about the questioning, which was still underway.
A Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, crashed near the Baramati air strip in Pune district on January 28, killing Pawar and four others.
After the plane crash, an accidental death report was registered at the Baramati Taluka police station, and the case was later transferred to the Pune CID. Earlier, the state agency had said that its focus was to ascertain if sabotage or criminal negligence led to the Baramati tragedy.
Days before V K Singh's questioning, the CID had sent a set of questions to VSR Ventures in connection with its investigation into the plane crash, according to a source.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar had alleged on Wednesday that someone was trying to save VSR Ventures, and claimed that a preliminary probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) vindicated the doubts earlier raised by him.
In its 22-page preliminary report on the air tragedy, the AAIB said the visibility at the time of the crash was below the required level. It also flagged fading marks on the runway and the presence of loose gravel on the runway surface.
A few days ago, Ajit Pawar’s son Jay Pawar had shared a purported video on social media alleging that V K Singh's son Rohit Singh was seen dozing off in the chief pilot’s seat during a flight, and demanded his immediate arrest.
He had also demanded that all aircraft of VSR Ventures be grounded till the inquiry into his father’s plane crash is completed.
