12 OCTOBER 2015: Centre shows surplus fiscal position in 8 years

Ø  For the first time in 8 years, India’s fiscal balance turned from deficit to surplus in the month of August, the latest data from the Controller-General of Accounts (CGA) show. The fiscal deficit, the excess of the Centre’s expenditure over its revenues, was (-) Rs. 15,808 crore in August. The negative figure indicates surplus of revenues over expenditure. In contrast, the Centre ran up a fiscal deficit of Rs. 73,005 crore in August 2014. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had laid down in the budget a target of 3.9 per cent of GDP for this year’s fiscal deficit. The healthy 22.8 per cent growth in gross tax revenues so far this year along with the 12 per cent reduction in the subsidy outgo have contributed to the improvement in the Centre’s fiscal position. Also, the Centre’s total receipts are significantly higher this year on the back of the Rs. 66,000-crore dividend from the RBI , which is the highest in its 80-year history and 22 per cent more than it paid last year.