High Frequency Indicators · Fiscal Deficit · CGA & RBI
The Union's Overdraft
Every rupee the central government spends beyond what it earns is borrowed — that gap is the fiscal deficit. Here it is as a share of the economy across four decades, and as this year's spending measured against the target Parliament approved.
by Tushar Gupta · India, in Numbers — No Rhetoric, Just Data
Source: Reserve Bank of India, Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy — Table 236 (Select Fiscal Indicators, as % of GDP) for the annual line 1983-84 to 2023-24, and Table 188 (Month-Wise Gross Fiscal Deficit) for the run-rate. The 2024-25 and 2025-26 figures (4.8% and 4.4% of GDP; provisional actuals), and the full 2025-26 and 2026-27 monthly run-rate are taken directly from the Controller General of Accounts Union Government monthly accounts; Budget targets are the Budget Estimates of each year's full Union Budget (for 2024-25, the July 2024 Budget's ₹16.13 lakh crore, not the February interim figure), as published in Budget at a Glance and shown in the CGA's monthly accounts; the 2026-27 target is ₹16.96 lakh crore (4.3% of GDP). Run-rate covers 2020-21 → 2026-27, the span with consistent month-wise CGA data. Fiscal deficit = total expenditure minus revenue receipts and non-debt capital receipts. Retrieved September 2026.
High Frequency Indicators · India, in Numbers
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