EconomyGovernment
How large is the Centre's deficit, and does it keep to the budget?
In FY26 (2025-26) the fiscal deficit came to 4.4% of GDP (4.3% measured against GDP on the older 2011-12 base), 3.2% below the amount first budgeted. The primary deficit, the deficit before interest, was 0.8% of GDP.
Written for readers following the Union budget through the year. Accounts to Aug 2026.
How big is the deficit against the economy?
Since 1998, the deficit has ranged from 2.7% of GDP (FY08) to 9.3% (FY21), on the 2011-12 GDP base, which runs furthest back.
The Centre's deficits as a share of GDP
Financial years from FY99, %. CGA's provisional March totals; GDP on two bases, never joined.
How to read it. The primary deficit leaves out interest: below zero, the Centre would be paying part of its interest bill from current revenue. The jump in FY21 is the pandemic year.
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Does the Centre keep to the deficit it budgets?
In 14 of the 28 years from FY99 with complete accounts, the Centre ended with a deficit more than half a percent above its budget estimate. Its net tax revenue has typically landed 3.9% below the budget estimate (the median year).
The year's deficit against the deficit first budgeted
Financial years, % above (positive) or below the budget estimate printed in April.
How to read it. Above zero, the Centre ended the year borrowing more than it had budgeted. Budgets are revised in February, so this compares the outcome with the original plan, not the revised one.
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How has the deficit moved over the past year?
By the end of Aug 2026, the Centre had run up 41.9% of the fiscal deficit in its budget for FY27, against 38.1% a year earlier and a median of 57.3% at this point in the previous 10 years.
The deficit over twelve months
₹ lakh crore, the twelve months to each month. Blank where CGA's archive lacks a month in the window.
How to read it. Twelve-month sums show the deficit's direction between budgets without the swings of the financial year's calendar.
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The workings
The question
Data
Every chart has a table view, a CSV download and a link to its published JSON. Bundles are listed in data status.