♦ India’s fiscal deficit for the first 8 months from April to November of the current financial year (2024-25) is estimated at Rs.8.47 lakh crore which works out to 52.5 percent of the estimate for the financial year. Net tax receipts for the first eight months of the current financial year were at Rs.14.43 lakh crore, or 56 per cent of the annual target, up from Rs.14.36 lakh crore for the same period last year, the data showed.

♦ Total government expenditure for the eight months was Rs.27.41lakh crore which constitutes 57 percent of the annual target fixed in the Union Budget. The government spent Rs.26.52 lakh crore in the same period last year.

♦ The government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year from 5.6 percent in 2023-24. The government aims to contain the fiscal deficit at Rs.16.13 lakh crore during the current fiscal.