Fiscal deficit widens to ₹7.58 tn in Apr-oct

India’s fiscal deficit widened to ₹7.58 trillion between April and October, accounting for 45.6% of the budget target for FY23, official data released on Wednesday showed. The government’s estimate of the difference between expenditure and revenue for the entire FY23 is ₹16.61 trillion or 6.4% of the GDP.

Official data showed that the government spent about ₹2.39 trillion on major subsidies such as food, fertilizers and petroleum which was nearly 75% of the annual budget and more than 62% of the budget estimate spent in the same period last year.