India’s public debt rose by 4.9 per cent during the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2012-13

According to the quarterly report on ‘Public debt management’ prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Ministry of Finance, India’s public debt rose by 4.9 per cent to 3752576 crore rupees during the first quarter (April-June) of fiscal year 2012 from 3578244 crore rupees  in the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2011-12. The report was released by the government on 27 July 2012.

The report pointed out that internal debt constituted 90.6 per cent compared with 90.1 per cent at the end of March, 2012 quarter. The report noted that outstanding internal debt of the Government at 3398154 crore rupees constituted 33.4 per cent of GDP compared with 36.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2011-2012.

On the tax front, report revealed, the government did remarkably better as gross tax collections during April-May period at 7.8 per cent of budget estimate were higher than 6.6 per cent a year ago. Personal income tax collections at 25999 crore rupees also surged by 44.2 per cent against budgeted estimate of 13.9 per cent for 2012-13.

In the direct taxes, corporate tax collections at 10137 crore rupees showed a healthy growth.
Among the indirect taxes, customs and excise duties showed negative growth of 2 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively, against budgeted growth rates of 22 per cent and 29.1 per cent. Service tax collections, however, increased by 37.7 per cent during April-May 2012-13 as against budget estimate of 30.5 per cent.