New Delhi

The central government's fiscal deficit touched 52.6 per cent of the full-year target at the end of October, according to official data released on Friday.

The fiscal deficit was 46.5 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) of 2024-25 in the first seven months of the previous financial year.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit, or gap between the government's expenditure and revenue, was Rs 8,25,144 crore in the April-October period of 2025-26.

The Centre estimates the fiscal deficit during 2025-26 at 4.4 per cent of the GDP, or Rs 15.69 lakh crore.

According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the central government received about Rs 18 lakh crore or 51.5 per cent of the corresponding BE 2025-26 of total receipts up to October 2025.

This comprised Rs 12.74 lakh crore of tax revenue (net to Centre), Rs 4.89 lakh crore of non-tax revenue and Rs 37,095 crore of non-debt capital receipts.

Further, Rs 8,34,957 crore was transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the Government of India during April-October, which is Rs 1,11,981 crore higher than the previous year.

CGA data showed that total expenditure incurred by the Centre is Rs 26.25 lakh crore (51.8 per cent of the corresponding BE 2025-26), out of which Rs 20 lakh crore was on revenue account and Rs 6.17 lakh crore on capital account.

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Of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 6.73 lakh crore was on account of interest payments and Rs 2.46 lakh crore on major subsidies.