Mumbai: India's fiscal deficit in 2020- 21 may shoot up to 6.2% of the GDP from 3.5% government estimate as a fallout of the Covid-19 economic stimulus package, Fitch Solutions said on Wednesday. With businesses disrupted due to the lockdown and its ripple effects, revenue will come under "heavy pressure" and may force the government to look towards additional borrowing and/or a higher central bank dividend to fund its expenditure, it said.
"At Fitch Solutions, we are revising our forecast for India's FY2020/21 (AprilMarch) central government fiscal deficit to widen to 6.2% of GDP, from 3.8% of GDP previously (estimated by Fitch Solutions), which reflects our view that the government will miss its initial target of 3.5% by a wider margin," the agency said.
Underpinning the revised forecast are weaker revenue collection as a result of a sharp virus-driven downturn in economic activity and higher expenditures aimed at softening Covid-19's economic shock. Stating that weak economic activity will likely see revenue collection contract in 2020-21, Fitch Solutions said receipts may contract by 1% from a growth of 11.8% previously.
"We have revised our FY2020/21 real GDP growth forecast to 4.6%, from 5.4% previously, to reflect our view for growth to weaken further from our estimate of 4.9% in FY2019/20 due to both economic disruptions due to domestic movement restrictions and weak global demand," it said. The government declared a 21-day nationwide lockdown beginning March 25.
"The rushed implementation of the lockdown which gave its citizens only a few hours to prepare has reportedly caused many rural migrants in the cities to be left without food and shelter, prompting them to return to their villages, either on the last remaining carriers or on foot."
The mass migration of such workers raises a significant risk of a larger Covid19 outbreak across the country, it said, adding the rural areas reportedly have fewer coronavirus cases versus the cities as of end-March and the perceived safety of the rural areas has given another reason for the migrant workers to return home.
