Government meets 2017-18 fiscal deficit target
New Delhi, May 31: The Central government broadly met its revised fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent for financial year 2017-18, official data showed here on Thursday.
According to the figures released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), fiscal deficit -- the difference between revenue and expenditure -- for the last financial year stood at 3.53 per cent of the country's GDP.
As per the provisional CGA data, the deficit reached Rs 5.91 lakh crore as against the revised estimates of Rs 5.94 lakh crore.
In budget 2018-19, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley revised the fiscal deficit target to 3.5 per cent from 3.2 per cent.
Besides, the data showed that the exchequer's total receipts during the fiscal under review yielded Rs 15.51 lakh crore, or 95.6 per cent of the estimates.
In addition, the total expenditure during the April-March 2017-18 period was Rs 21.42 lakh crore, or 96.6 per cent of the entire fiscal's estimate.
"The seasonal trend of revenue receipts out pacing revenue expenditure in March 2018 and a reversal in certain loans that had been extended previously, led to the total fiscal deficit for FY2018 printing marginally lower than the revised estimate," Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist, ICRA was quoted as saying in a statement.
"However, the revenue deficit for FY2018 has modestly exceeded the revised level."
On a monthly basis, the fiscal deficit in April 2018 touched Rs 1.51 lakh crore or 24.3 per cent of Budget estimates for 2018-19.
The CGA figures showed that the 2018-19 deficit has been pegged at Rs 6.24 lakh crore.
The total receipts during the month under review was Rs 71,450 crore, or 3.9 per cent of the estimates, whereas the total expenditure was Rs 2.23 lakh crore, or 9.1 per cent of the entire fiscal's estimate.
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Smriti Irani being considered as BJP face for Delhi poll campaign, other names also on table: Report
Delhi: The increased involvement of Smriti Irani in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activities in Delhi has stirred discussions within the party's local unit regarding her potential candidacy in the upcoming 2025 assembly elections. For the first time in a decade, the BJP is considering projecting a face for its Delhi election campaign, with Irani's name among those in contention.
The recent meeting included discussions about several potential names who could be the face of the BJP for their Delhi poll campaign, including Irani, who previously lost the Lok Sabha election in Amethi to Congress's Kishori Lal, a senior BJP leader told The Indian Express. Other names mentioned include Praveen Khandelwal, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Manoj Tiwari, and Bansuri Swaraj. “Several possibilities are on the table, including fielding Smriti ji, regarding whom the national leadership is in the process of taking the final decision. Or, the party may bet on an incumbent Lok Sabha MP popular enough to pull the party through the Delhi Assembly elections. If an MP gets elected CM, they may then be replaced by a former Union Minister,” added the BJP functionary.
An insider revealed to the publication that the saffron party is contemplating a unified campaign strategy for the Delhi elections, marking a significant shift since the party last did so in 2015. This topic was addressed among senior leaders during a meeting held at the party's DDU Marg headquarters on the same day that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Delhi Chief Minister, handing leadership to Atishi. The source revealed that the Union Ministers present in the meeting asked for suggestions on whom the party could project as the face of its Delhi election campaign based on various criteria.
In addition to selecting a campaign face, BJP leadership is reportedly also considering a larger role for its Delhi MPs, keeping adequate caste and community representation in mind.. “As far as the MPs are concerned, they are being assessed based on their popularity as well as the caste and community they belong to. The party may go in for significant organisational changes in Delhi during Navratri in October after the conclusion of the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections,” a BJP leader told IE.
