New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) India is hopeful of meeting the 4.6 percent fiscal deficit target for 2011-12 as revenue and expenditure are in line with the estimates of April-June, the quarter review of the economy showed Tuesday.
"Trends in tax revenue, inclusive of refund, does not show any sign of slippage from the targeted level, and expenditure is in line with budget estimates. Therefore, as per quarter 1 trends, there may not be any slippage in fiscal deficit during 2011-12," the finance ministry said in the quarterly review.
According to the report, fiscal deficit in April-June was Rs.162,653 crore, which is 39.4 percent of the budgeted deficit for the fiscal 2011-12.
In the budget for the current fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had pegged the fiscal deficit at 4.6 percent of GDP.
However, analysts and industry bodies had doubts over the target.
According to a recent report of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), fiscal deficit was likely to remain between 5.05 and 5.12 percent.
The government targets to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2013-14. Fiscal deficit was 5.1 percent in 2010-11 against the budget estimate of 5.5 percent.