FY23 fiscal deficit target kept at 6.4%

New Delhi: India's Union Budget 2022-23 will depend upon a high level of borrowings to fulfill the upcoming fiscal's expenditure.

Accordingly, the fiscal deficit 2022-23 target is estimated at 6.4 per cent of GDP.

Besides, the revised fiscal deficit for FY22 is estimated at 6.9 per cent of GDP as against 6.8 per cent projected in the Budget Estimates.

In her Budget speech in Parliament on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman termed the target as "consistent" with the broad path of fiscal consolidation last year to reach a fiscal deficit level below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.

"The revised fiscal deficit in the current year is estimated at 6.9 per cent of GDP as against 6.8 per cent projected in the Budget Estimates," she said.

"The fiscal deficit in 2022-23 is estimated at 6.4 per cent of GDP, which is consistent with the broad path of fiscal consolidation announced by me last year to reach a fiscal deficit level below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26."

Furthermore, she said that while setting the fiscal deficit level in 2022-23, "I am conscious of the need to nurture growth, through public investment, to become stronger and sustainable".

India's budget estimates for FY23 show a total expenditure of Rs 39.45 lakh crore, whereas the total receipts other than borrowings are estimated at Rs 22.84 lakh crore.