Centre’s fiscal deficit touches 54.5% of full year target at end-December: Government data

The Centre’s fiscal deficit at the end of December stood at ₹8.55 lakh crore, or 54.5% of the annual budget target for 2025-26, compared to 56.7% in the year-ago period, government data released on Friday (January 30, 2026) showed.

The Centre estimates the fiscal deficit (the gap between expenditure and revenue) during 2025-26 at 4.4% of GDP, or ₹15.69 lakh crore.

According to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the Central Government received ₹25.25 lakh crore or 72.2% of the corresponding budget estimates (BE) of 2025-26 of total receipts up to December 2025.

It comprised ₹19.39 lakh crore of tax revenue (net to Centre), ₹5.39 lakh crore of non-tax revenue, and ₹46,047 crore of non-debt capital receipts.

The CGA data showed that ₹10.38 lakh crore was transferred to States as devolution of share of taxes by the Central Government during April-December, which is ₹1.37 lakh crore higher than the year-ago period.

Total expenditure incurred by the Central Government was ₹33.8 lakh crore (66.7% of the corresponding BE 2025-26), out of which ₹25.93 lakh crore was on the revenue account and ₹7.87 lakh crore on the capital account.

Out of the total revenue expenditure, ₹9.11 lakh crore was on account of interest payments and ₹3.17 lakh crore on major subsidies.

The Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled in Parliament on Thursday (January 29, 2026), showed that the government is well on track to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.4% of GDP estimated for the current financial year based on broad trends.