How large is the fiscal deficit?
Union Budget · released 1 Feb 2026 · next due by 1 Feb 2027
| Period | Value (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 4.8 |
| 2023-24 | 5.6 |
| 2022-23 | 6.4 |
| 2021-22 | 6.7 |
| 2020-21 | 9.2 |
Use in your answer
The Union government's fiscal deficit was 4.8% of GDP in 2024-25 (Actuals), compared with 5.6% of GDP in 2023-24. Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget at a Glance 2026-27.
Cite as: Union Budget, Budget at a Glance 2026-27 (Ministry of Finance), 2024-25
What this shows
- The fiscal deficit was 4.8% of GDP in 2024-25 (Actuals, Budget at a Glance 2026-27), about half the pandemic peak of 9.2% in 2020-21.
- 2025-26 is a Revised Estimate of 4.4% and 2026-27 a Budget Estimate of 4.3%. Neither is an outcome yet: label which kind of figure you cite.
- Read it with the revenue deficit, the part of borrowing that pays for current rather than capital spending: 1.7% of GDP in 2024-25 (Actuals).
Cite this
Cite a fixed version from every published version below.
Source and method
What exactly is measured
Union government fiscal deficit (total spending minus receipts other than borrowing) as a share of GDP. Only Actuals are shown, each read from the Budget at a Glance published two years later; Budget and Revised Estimates are forecasts and are not mixed in. Ratios are as published, against the GDP estimates current at each Budget (2011-12 base), and have not been recomputed on the new 2022-23 GDP series.
History: every published version
Each time the source changes this series we archive the full series as it stood, with an archived copy of the source, and never delete an old version. Each version has a permanent page you can cite. Recorded since 18 Oct 2026: 1 version.
No figure in this series has been revised since we began recording on 18 Oct 2026.
- 5 periods, latest 2024-25: 4.8% of GDP · first snapshotArchived source
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Release notes (3)
- 4.9%2024-25 Budget Estimate, Budget 2024-25
- 4.8%2024-25 Revised Estimate, Budget 2025-26
- 4.8%2024-25 Actuals, Budget 2026-27
Get the data
Use it in Excel, Python or R
Excel (Data → From Web): https://india.tf/c/gov-fiscal-006/data.csv
Python: pandas.read_csv("https://india.tf/c/gov-fiscal-006/data.csv")
R: read.csv("https://india.tf/c/gov-fiscal-006/data.csv")
All statistics: /api/index.json. Free to reuse with attribution (GODL-India).
