New Delhi: India’s fiscal deficit would shoot to about 7.8% if off-budget items like bonds issued to oil companies are included, said Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on 16 February projected a fiscal deficit of 6%, without including the off-budget items.
“The budget shows that the number is going to be 6% as a fiscal deficit and this does not include about 1.7%, which is the bonds, etc., which are not counted,” Ahluwalia said in in interview to a CNBC TV 18.