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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Economic Affairs
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5856
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2026/ Chaitra 09, 1948 (SAKA)
FISCAL DEFICIT
5856. Shri Adhikari Soumendu:
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has achieved the target of narrowing down the fiscal deficit over the years;
(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the fiscal deficit of the Government in terms of amount and as
percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during each of the last five years and is proposed for
next three years financial years; and
(c) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Union Government to decrease the fiscal consolidation
path to bring the deficit below 4.5 per cent of GDP and reach a Debt-to-GDP ratio of 50±1 per cent
by 2035 from present 56.1 percent thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b): Government’s fiscal deficit has narrowed from 9.2% of GDP in 2020-21 to 4.8 % of GDP in
2024-25. The details of the fiscal deficit (FD), in terms of amount and as a percentage of GDP during the
last five years is given in the table below:
Financial Year Fiscal Deficit (in ₹ crore) FD as % of GDP
2020-21 18,18,291 9.2
2021-22 15,84,521 6.7
2022-23 17,37,755 6.5
2023-24 16,54,643 5.5
2024-25 15,74,431 4.8
The fiscal deficit in RE 2025-26 and BE 2026-27 has been kept at ₹15,58,492 crore (4.4 per cent of
GDP) and ₹16,95,768 crore (4.3 per cent of GDP) respectively.
(c) The steps taken by Government to adhere to the fiscal deficit and debt consolidation paths that were
announced in the previous budgets, while keeping in mind the potential growth trends and emergent
development needs, include a focus on Effective Capital Expenditure to spur economic growth. For
example, in BE 2026-27 the borrowings of the Government (₹16.96 lakh crore) will be utilised for meeting
the Effective Capital Expenditure of ₹17.15 lakh crore.
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