NEW DELHI, Dec 2: The India’s fiscal deficit for April-October ’05 has reached Rs 920.68 billion up 48 per cent from Rs 628.79 billion during the same year-ago period.

The April to October figures of central government accounts released by the Controller General of Accounts on Friday, show the revenue deficit is, however, only 10 per cent more than last year’s level of Rs702.84bn against Rs638.79bn in 2004-05.

Fiscal deficit measures the aggregate deficit in government revenue compared to its expenditure, while revenue deficit tracks the shortage of current revenue against current expenditure.

The deficit is largely created by the weakness in total receipts, which is 6.5 per cent less than in the same period last year. This, in turn, is because non-debt capital receipts are a whopping 86.09 per cent lower than in April-October period last year.

Non-debt capital receipts include disinvestment, which the government has kept out of the consolidated fund of India. Swapping of high-cost state government loans, which yielded Rs 384.68 billion last year, have also been discontinued this year.

The government is, therefore, depending only on current revenues to keep to the fiscal and revenue deficit targets for the year.

Tax revenues till the end of October is growing by over 24 per cent over last year’s Rs 1162.97 billion compared with Rs 935.68 billion in 2004-05. But non-tax revenues are flat, at Rs 386.12 billion, which is marginally lower than last year’s figure at the same time.

But there has been improvement in government expenditure. Non-plan expenditure has been kept under control, rising by only 5.46 per cent year-on-year. Plan expenditure is also doing well, growing by 15.3 per cent, with both plan revenue and plan capital expenditure growing well.

Plan expenditure roughly measures the investment expenditure of the government. Total expenditure is, therefore, only 8.04 per cent more than the first seven months of last fiscal. It is Rs 2525.38 billion, or Rs184.73 billion over that of 2004-05.—By arrangement with the Times of India