Macroeconomic Indicators (12 March 2011)

The astonishing feature of the central government's budget for the year 2011-12 has been the remarkable fall in the budgeted growth rates of both receipts and expenditure. The growth in receipts is by a negligible 0.5% in 2011-12 compared to the growth of 22.1% in 2009-10 and 20.1% in 2010-11. Similarly, the growth in total expenditure is by a modest 3.4% compared with 15.9% and 18.6% during the same years. It is noteworthy that the fiscal deficit projected at Rs 4.13 lakh crore for 2011-12 is lower than the peak of Rs 4.18 lakh crore in 2009-10.