The Centre has finished the first half of the financial year with its receipts slightly ahead of schedule and its deficit well within the year's budget. On 30 October 2026, the Ministry of Finance released the monthly accounts of the Government of India up to September 2026, consolidated by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
In six months the government received ₹18,35,422 crore, which is 50.3% of the receipts budgeted for 2026-27. It spent ₹25,49,835 crore, or 47.7% of the year's Budget Estimate (BE). The gap between the two, the fiscal deficit, works out to ₹7,14,413 crore. That is about 42% of the full-year target.
Behind those headline figures is a mixed picture. Tax collections have grown slowly, spending has grown quickly, interest payments keep rising, and the transfer of tax money to the states is up by almost ₹68,000 crore. This article walks through the numbers the way an examiner would, deficit by deficit.
The six-month numbers at a glance
All figures are in ₹ crore, for April–September. The 2026-27 column is from the 30 October release. The 2025-26 column is from the same release a year earlier.
| Item | Apr–Sep 2026 | Apr–Sep 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total receipts (non-debt) | 18,35,422 | 17,30,216 | +6.1% |
| — Tax revenue (net to Centre) | 12,76,088 | 12,29,370 | +3.8% |
| — Non-tax revenue | 4,80,732 | 4,66,076 | +3.1% |
| — Non-debt capital receipts | 78,602 | 34,770 | +126% |
| Total expenditure | 25,49,835 | 23,03,339 | +10.7% |
| — Revenue account | 18,95,288 | 17,22,593 | +10.0% |
| — Capital account | 6,54,547 | 5,80,746 | +12.7% |
| Interest payments | 6,46,010 | 5,78,182 | +11.7% |
| Major subsidies | 2,22,905 | 2,02,367 | +10.1% |
| Tax devolution to states | 6,99,409 | 6,31,751 | +10.7% |
The Budget for 2026-27, presented on 1 February 2026, estimated non-debt receipts of ₹36.5 lakh crore and spending of ₹53.5 lakh crore. That leaves a planned fiscal deficit of about ₹17 lakh crore, equal to 4.3% of GDP. The year before, the deficit was held at 4.4% of GDP.
Three deficits, worked out from the release
The CGA release gives receipts and spending. The deficits are not printed, but they can be calculated directly, and CDS questions test exactly these definitions.
Fiscal deficit = total expenditure − total non-debt receipts. It measures how much the government must borrow. - 25,49,835 − 18,35,422 = ₹7,14,413 crore. - A year ago it was ₹5,73,123 crore, so the half-year deficit is about 25% higher. - As a share of the full-year target it is about 42%. At the same point last year it was about 36.5%.
Revenue deficit = revenue expenditure − revenue receipts (tax + non-tax). It measures how much of the day-to-day spending is financed by borrowing. - Revenue receipts: 12,76,088 + 4,80,732 = ₹17,56,820 crore. - Revenue deficit: 18,95,288 − 17,56,820 = ₹1,38,468 crore. - A year ago it was only ₹27,147 crore.
Primary deficit = fiscal deficit − interest payments. It shows borrowing for current needs, after setting aside the cost of old debt. - 7,14,413 − 6,46,010 = ₹68,403 crore. - In April–September 2025 the government ran a small primary surplus of about ₹5,000 crore, because interest payments were larger than the whole fiscal deficit.
Memory line: Fiscal deficit = borrowing. Revenue deficit = borrowing to pay running costs. Primary deficit = borrowing minus interest on past borrowing.
A rising revenue deficit is the figure economists watch most closely. Borrowing to build roads and railways adds to future income; borrowing to pay salaries, subsidies and interest does not. That is why the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) framework has always tried to push the revenue deficit towards zero first.
Receipts: why tax grew only 3.8%
Total receipts are slightly ahead of schedule at 50.3% of the BE. The tax figure, however, deserves a closer look.
Tax revenue (net to Centre) was ₹12.76 lakh crore, only 3.8% more than a year earlier and about 44.5% of the ₹28.7 lakh crore budgeted. The word "net" matters. The Centre collects gross tax, then hands the states their share of the divisible pool, and only the rest stays with it. Because the states' share (devolution) rose by 10.7%, the Centre's net tax grew much more slowly than its gross collections.
Non-tax revenue of ₹4.81 lakh crore was already more than half its yearly target. The biggest item here is usually the surplus transfer from the Reserve Bank of India, paid in the first half of the year, along with dividends from public sector enterprises.
Non-debt capital receipts more than doubled, to ₹78,602 crore. This category covers recoveries of loans and money from disinvestment and asset monetisation. It is small, but it is also the line that misses its target most often.
Spending: capex on track, interest the heaviest burden
Capital expenditure of ₹6.55 lakh crore grew 12.7% and reached about 54% of the year's ₹12.2 lakh crore allocation. Capex was just ₹2 lakh crore in 2014-15. It has been the government's main growth lever since the pandemic, and spending more than half of it by September keeps the plan on track.
Interest payments of ₹6.46 lakh crore were the single largest item of revenue spending: - They took about 37% of all revenue receipts, meaning more than one rupee in every three the Centre earned went to servicing old debt. - They also made up 34% of revenue expenditure, and they grew faster (11.7%) than receipts (6.1%).
This is the reason the government changed its fiscal anchor. From 2026-27 the target is a debt-to-GDP ratio of 50 ± 1% by 2030-31, rather than a yearly deficit number alone. A lower stock of debt is the only lasting way to cut the interest bill.
Major subsidies (food, fertiliser and petroleum) came to ₹2.23 lakh crore, up about 10%.
Devolution: what the states received
The Centre transferred ₹6,99,409 crore to the states as their share of central taxes, ₹67,658 crore more than a year earlier.
This money is not a grant. It is the states' constitutional share of the divisible pool, fixed by the Finance Commission under Article 280. The Sixteenth Finance Commission, whose award covers 2026-27 to 2030-31, recommended keeping the vertical share at 41%, the same as the Fifteenth. The government accepted this on 1 February 2026. How that 41% is split among states (horizontal devolution) depends on a formula of population, area, income distance and other criteria. Our explainer on the Sixteenth Finance Commission covers the formula in detail.
Who keeps these accounts
The Controller General of Accounts is the Government of India's chief accounting adviser. The office sits in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, and was created in 1976, when the accounts of civil ministries were separated from audit. Each ministry now keeps its own accounts, and the CGA consolidates them every month. Its "monthly accounts" are the earliest official read on how the Budget is actually being carried out.
Do not confuse the CGA with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG): - The CGA is an executive official who keeps the accounts. - The CAG is a constitutional authority (Articles 148–151) who audits them and reports to Parliament.
The two titles differ by one word, and UPSC uses that.
What to watch in the second half
- Tax buoyancy. Net tax at 44.5% of target after six months leaves a lot to collect between October and March. Advance-tax instalments fall due in December and March, and those months usually decide the year.
- The deficit's back half. Governments often spend heavily in the last quarter. With 42% of the deficit used, there is room, but less cushion than last year.
- Disinvestment. Non-debt capital receipts are improving. Whether they reach the year's target depends on stake sales in the coming months.
- Revised Estimates. The real verdict on 2026-27 will come with the Revised Estimates in the Budget of 1 February 2027.
🔑 Revision block
The release. Monthly accounts up to September 2026, released 30 October 2026; consolidated by the CGA (Department of Expenditure, set up 1976).
Headline numbers (Apr–Sep 2026). Receipts ₹18.35 lakh crore (50.3% of BE); spending ₹25.50 lakh crore (47.7%); capex ₹6.55 lakh crore; interest ₹6.46 lakh crore; subsidies ₹2.23 lakh crore; devolution ₹6.99 lakh crore (+₹67,658 crore).
Derived deficits. Fiscal ₹7.14 lakh crore (~42% of the ~₹17 lakh crore BE); revenue ₹1.38 lakh crore; primary ₹0.68 lakh crore (a primary surplus a year ago).
Budget 2026-27. Receipts ₹36.5 lakh crore, spending ₹53.5 lakh crore, net tax ₹28.7 lakh crore, capex ₹12.2 lakh crore, fiscal deficit 4.3% of GDP; anchor: debt 50 ± 1% of GDP by 2030-31.
Formulas. FD = expenditure − non-debt receipts; RD = revenue expenditure − revenue receipts; PD = FD − interest.
Federal link. Vertical devolution 41% (16th FC, 2026-31; Article 280). CGA keeps accounts; CAG (Articles 148–151) audits them.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The fiscal deficit of the Union government is best defined as: (a) Total expenditure minus total revenue receipts (b) Revenue expenditure minus revenue receipts (c) Total expenditure minus total non-debt receipts (d) Fiscal deficit minus interest payments
→ (c) Fiscal deficit equals total borrowing needs: spending minus all receipts except borrowing. Option (a) ignores non-debt capital receipts, (b) is the revenue deficit and (d) is the primary deficit.
Q2. Using the April–September 2026 figures (revenue expenditure ₹18.95 lakh crore, tax ₹12.76 lakh crore, non-tax ₹4.81 lakh crore), the revenue deficit was about: (a) ₹1.38 lakh crore (b) ₹6.14 lakh crore (c) ₹7.14 lakh crore (d) ₹0.68 lakh crore
→ (a) 18.95 − (12.76 + 4.81) ≈ 1.38. ₹7.14 lakh crore is the fiscal deficit and ₹0.68 lakh crore the primary deficit.
Q3. A primary surplus means that: (a) The government has no debt (b) Revenue receipts exceed capital expenditure (c) Tax receipts exceed non-tax receipts (d) The fiscal deficit is smaller than interest payments
→ (d) Primary deficit = fiscal deficit − interest. If interest is bigger than the fiscal deficit, the result is negative, which is a primary surplus. The Centre had one in April–September 2025.
Q4. The office that consolidates the monthly accounts of the Government of India is: (a) The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (b) The Controller General of Accounts (c) The Reserve Bank of India (d) The Department of Economic Affairs
→ (b) The CGA, in the Department of Expenditure, keeps and consolidates the accounts. The CAG audits them.
Q5. The vertical share of the divisible pool recommended by the Sixteenth Finance Commission for 2026-31 is: (a) 32% (b) 41% (c) 42% (d) 50%
→ (b) It kept the 41% fixed by the Fifteenth Commission. The Fourteenth had recommended 42%; 32% was the Thirteenth's figure.
Q6. Which of the following is a non-debt capital receipt? (a) Recovery of loans given to states (b) Net market borrowings through dated securities (c) Interest received on loans (d) Dividend from the RBI
→ (a) Loan recoveries and disinvestment proceeds are non-debt capital receipts. Interest and dividends are non-tax revenue, and market borrowings are debt.
Q7. In the Union Budget 2026-27, the government's medium-term fiscal anchor is: (a) A fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP by 2026-27 (b) A revenue deficit of zero by 2027-28 (c) A tax-to-GDP ratio of 15% by 2030 (d) A debt-to-GDP ratio of 50 ± 1% by 2030-31
→ (d) From 2026-27 the path is framed around debt reduction, with the fiscal deficit at 4.3% of GDP for the year.
Q8. Consider the following statements about the April–September 2026 accounts: 1. Capital expenditure grew faster than total receipts. 2. Interest payments took more than a third of revenue receipts. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
→ (c) Capex grew 12.7% against receipts' 6.1%, and interest (₹6.46 lakh crore) was about 37% of revenue receipts (₹17.57 lakh crore).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Public finance is one of the steadiest sources of CDS economy questions, and it is asked in three ways.
The first is definitions: fiscal, revenue, primary and effective revenue deficit, and which receipts count as capital. The examiner likes options that are each one step away from the right formula, as in Q1 above.
The second is institutions: Finance Commission (Article 280) versus the CAG (Article 148) versus the CGA, and who prepares, audits or consolidates what. "Controller" and "Comptroller" are the classic trap.
The third is budget numbers: the deficit target as a share of GDP, the capex allocation and the vertical devolution share. These change every year, so the fresh hook this cycle is 4.3% of GDP, ₹12.2 lakh crore capex, the 41% share retained by the Sixteenth Finance Commission and the new debt-to-GDP anchor of 50 ± 1% by 2030-31.
Preparing for CDS? Practise working out all three deficits from a single release like this one; it takes two minutes and fixes the definitions for good. Revise them with our notes on government budgeting and fiscal federalism. Follow the daily CDS current affairs, and learn with experienced faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
Source: PIB / Ministry of Finance, "Monthly review of accounts of Government of India upto September 2026 (FY 2026-27)", 30 October 2026, and the corresponding release for September 2025 (31 October 2025). Budget 2026-27 figures from the Ministry of Finance's Budget summary and highlights (1 February 2026); Sixteenth Finance Commission decision from the Ministry of Finance release of 1 February 2026. Deficits calculated by The Cavalier from the published figures.
✍️ Written by Aditya Tiwari — Economy & current-affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk.