The Centre maintains confidence in fulfilling the amended targets for the current fiscal year laid out in the Interim Budget 2023-24, and officials are enthusiastic about attaining the fiscal deficit target while retaining the brakes on capital expenditure. "The fiscal deficit target of 5.8% of GDP for FY24 will be met," an official said.

The Interim Budget 2024-25, presented on February 1, reduced the budget deficit projection for FY24 from the Budget forecast of 5.9%.

Meanwhile, capital expenditure remained on track at Rs 9.5 lakh crore for FY24 in the Revised Estimates, compared to Rs 10 lakh crore in the Budget Estimate. According to sources, over 80% of the capex objective had been met by early February this year.

"Given the trend, there is an expectation that ministries will be able to utilize the full amount," the person said.

Capex has actually been somewhat ahead of revenue expenditure, according to the source, with revenue expenditure being significantly below at approximately 79% of the RE of Rs 35.4 lakh crore by early February 2024.

Between April and December 2023, the Centre's capex was Rs 6.73 lakh crore, whereas revenue expenditure was Rs 23.8 lakh crore. Official figures on Central government accounts through January 31, 2024 will be provided on February 29.

The Centre has relied on continuous capital expenditure by government ministries and agencies to boost economic growth following the Covid-19 outbreak, which has resulted in a decrease in private capital expenditure.

However, there have been concerns that government capex may slow ahead of the General Elections due to the model code of conduct, which goes into effect sometime in March.