Govt vows to meet fiscal deficit goal

The government is committed to meeting the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent for the current fiscal despite it being an election year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday. He also said that there will not be a spending cut to meet the target as the government has enough alternative resources for planned expenditure.

Fiscal deficit stood at 3.53 per cent of the GDP, broadly in line with the government's revised estimates for 2017-18.

"Fiscal digit this year will be down to 3.3 per cent and I can assure you that we are monitoring and working to ensure that fiscal deficit will be contained at 3.3 per cent despite this being an election year, despite this being a year traditionally, and I will urge you to look at history be it 2013-14, be it 2007-08 or 2008-09, where fiscal deficits, microeconomic stability, good governance -- all were thrown to the wind for political exigencies," Goyal said, adding this government has been very responsible, both in the management in the economy and prices. "We have factored in what would be the increased oil price. Some of it were factored before the budget. Some of it we have now. And with alternate sources... without cut in expenditure, we will be able to meet the fiscal deficit," he said.

Double-digit growth by Q4

Goyal said that India's economy can grow in double digits by the fourth quarter of the current fiscal in view of the uptick in demand. His comment comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that many more steps need to be taken for India to reach double digit growth, Goyal said the government has taken several steps to promote the ease of doing business and maintain stability of the economy.