The fiscal deficit for April to January of the current financial year came in at Rs 11.91 lakh crore, or 67.8 per cent of the revised annual estimates, according to government data.

The fiscal deficit in the corresponding period of the last financial year was 58.9 per cent of that year’s target. The Centre made an upward revision in its fiscal deficit target for 2022-23 in the 2023 budget to Rs 17.55 lakh crore from Rs 16.61 lakh crore.

The net tax collection in the first 10 months of this fiscal was Rs 16,88,710 crore or 80.9 per cent of the RE 2022-23. In the comparable period last financial year, the collection stood at 87.7 per cent of the RE 2021-22.

Aditi Nayar, the chief economist of Icra, said: “While there may be modest deviations from the revised estimates for direct taxes, divestment receipts and certain categories of expenditure, Icra does not expect the deficit to materially exceed the revised target of Rs 17.6 trillion for FY2023.”

She added that “while fiscal concerns are limited, the apprehensions around further monetary tightening are likely to keep bond yields elevated in the near term. We expect the 10-year G-sec yield to trade between 7.35-7.5 per cent in the next two months.

”The overall expenditure in the period came in at Rs 31.68 lakh crore, which is 75.7 per cent of this year’s revised budget target. It was Rs 28.09 lakh crore a year ago.