Govt cuts fiscal deficit target to 3.3% for FY20

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday lowered the fiscal deficit target to 3.3 per cent for the current fiscal from the earlier estimate of 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

"The fiscal deficit this year is 3.3 per cent brought down from 3.4 per cent," she said while presenting Budget for 2019-20.

While presenting interim Budget 2019-20 in February, the government had pegged fiscal deficit target at 3.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, dismissing apprehension over meeting fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of the GDP, the finance ministry Friday said the lower target is realistic as the government is expecting net additional revenue of Rs 6,000 crore over the interim Budget estimates.

Several critics including some rating agencies have doubted prospects of meeting this ambitious fiscal deficit target. Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg in a customary briefing post Budget said, "On the revenue side as compared to actual of 2018-19, direct taxes are expected to increase by 17.5 per cent, indirect taxes are going up by only 15 per cent. This is very realistic targets in our judgement. On non-tax side, there is also an increase as we are expecting better dividends."