Govt reports an April-August revenue shortfall of Rs5,53,840 cr

This leaves a revenue deficit of Rs5,53,840 crore for the April-August period of the fiscal.

Total receipts of Government of India up to 29 August 2019 stood at Rs6,21,461 crore, comprising Rs4,04,580 crore tax revenue (net to centre), Rs1,98,621 crore of non-tax revenue and Rs18,260 crore of non-debt capital receipts. This is about 29.84 per cent of the budget estimates for the April-August period of the financial year 2019-20. 

Non-debt capital receipts consists of recovery of loans (Rs5,902 crore) and disinvestment proceeds (Rs12,358 crore).

The centre has transferred Rs2,55,605 crore has been transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by Government of India up to this period which is Rs11,697 crore lower than the previous year.

Against this, the total expenditure incurred by Government of India so far during the financial year (April-August 2019-20) stood at Rs11,75,301 crore, out of which Rs10,39,125 crore is on revenue account and Rs1,36,176 crore is on capital account. This amounts to 42.2 per cent of corresponding budget estimates for the April-August period of financial year 2019-20.

Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs2,19,026 crore is on account of interest payments and Rs1,89,527 crore is on account of major subsidies. 

The finance ministry in its quarterly report for the first quarter of the current fiscal (April-June 2019-20) said the central government issued dated securities worth Rs2,21,000 crore as against Rs1,44,000 crore for the quarter. 

The weighted average maturity (WAM) of new issuances stood at 15.86 years in Q1 of FY20 (14.18 years in Q4 of FY19). The weighted average yield (WAY) of issuances for the same quarter was 7.21 per cent compared to 7.47 per cent in Q4 of FY19. During April-June 2019, the central government did not raise any amount through the issuance of Cash Management Bills. 

The net average liquidity injection by RBI under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), including MSF, was Rs17,599.3 crore during the quarter.

The total liabilities (including liabilities under the ‘Public Account’) of the government, increased to Rs88,18,392 crore at end-June 2019 from Rs84,68,086 crore at end-March 2019. Public debt accounted for 89.4 per cent of total outstanding liabilities at end-June 2019. Nearly 28.9 per cent of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years. The holding pattern indicates a share of 40.3 per cent for commercial banks and 24.3 per cent for insurance companies at end-March 2019.

G-Sec yields have softened in Q1 of FY20 with the decrease in weighted average yield of primary issuances to 7.21 per cent from 7.47 per cent in Q4 of FY19 reflecting the impact of several developments, namely reduction in policy repo rate twice under the LAF by 25 bps each, OMO purchase auction and a downward movement in the yield on US 10-year treasury bond. The yield on 10-year benchmark G-Sec (7.26 per cent GS 2029) closed at 6.88 per cent on 29 June 2019. Central government dated securities continued to account for a major share of total trading volumes in the secondary market, with a share of 86.0 per cent in total outright trading volumes in value terms during Q1 of FY20.