Fiscal deficit may widen to 3.7-4% of GDP: Ex-fin secy

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In this, major policy decision of the government to reduce corporate tax rates (desirable as it was considering very high corporate tax
rates in the country) has also contributed
Personal income taxes are also growing at very small rate
GST revenues are also not very robust
There is substantial shortfall visible in excise duties and customs duties, which had a very high asking rate this year
Subhash Chandra Garg said in a blog post. He said only 20 per cent of the disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore has been achieved and
expressed doubts whether the government will be able to go ahead with the strategic selloff in three large state-run firms such as BPCL,
achieving the disinvestment target
However, it seems the process is moving slower than planned and it is unlikely that sale of all the three, especially BPCL, which was set to
provide about 3/4th of this Rs 80000 crore, would be completed by March 31, 2020
board, it would be fair to expect the headline fiscal deficit to go up by Rs 1,30,000 crore to Rs 2,00,000 crore i.e
0.6 per cent to 1 per cent of GDP
opted for voluntary retirement last year after being shunted out from the finance ministry to power, said. He estimated that the real fiscal
deficit would be around 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent of GDP, taking into account spending linked to recapitalisation of banks and financial
institutions, payment of food subsidy via the National Small Savings Fund.