The Controller-General of Accounts (CGA) in the second week of October 2015 announced that India’s fiscal balance turned from deficit to surplus for the first time in 8 years.

Highlights

• Fiscal deficit- difference between revenue and expenditure excluding borrowings- for August 2015 was pegged at -15808 crore rupees that indicate surplus of revenues over expenditure.
• The surplus amount in the exchequer is significant due to the fact that the fiscal deficit was 73005 crore rupees during the same period in the previous fiscal-August 2014.
• In August 2015, the total expenditure was only 131214 crore rupees against the total revenue of 147022 crore rupees.
• The government could achieve surplus due to sharp surge in revenue receipts and decline in its total expenditures.
• However, the 15.8 thousand crore rupees surplus was not wide enough to offset the fiscal deficit in the 2015-16 financial year.
• Between April and August 2015, the cumulative fiscal deficit was 3.69 lakh crore rupees against 3.97 lakh crore rupees during the same period in 2014.

Expected Questions

Who announced that India’s fiscal balance turned from deficit to surplus for the first time in 8 years?