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The Public Rupee

Budget versus Actual

What was budgeted, what it was revised to, and what was finally spent. Each stage is read from the Budget at a Glance that reported it, so one row here is a join across editions published up to two years apart.

Covers
2025–26
FY2025–26

This year has ended but its accounts are provisional. The outturn column is CGA’s year-end statement, published within two months of the year closing; the audited figure appears in the Budget at a Glance two Februarys later and routinely differs by thousands of crore. Rows CGA does not report — capital receipts and total receipts, which include borrowings — are blank rather than estimated.

Union Budget 2025–26: prior-year actual, budget estimate, revised estimate, outturn and variance
AggregateActual2024–25Budget2025–26Revised2025–26Actual2025–26BE → ActualvarianceBE → RErevision
Revenue receipts30.37 ₹ lakh crore34.20 ₹ lakh crore33.42 ₹ lakh crore33.02 ₹ lakh croreprovisional1.18 ₹ lakh crore3.5%78,086 ₹ crore2.3%
Tax revenue (net to Centre)25.00 ₹ lakh crore28.37 ₹ lakh crore26.75 ₹ lakh crore26.23 ₹ lakh croreprovisional2.14 ₹ lakh crore7.5%1.63 ₹ lakh crore5.7%
Non-tax revenue5.37 ₹ lakh crore5.83 ₹ lakh crore6.68 ₹ lakh crore6.79 ₹ lakh croreprovisional+95,961 ₹ crore+16.5%+84,662 ₹ crore+14.5%
Capital receipts16.16 ₹ lakh crore16.45 ₹ lakh crore16.23 ₹ lakh crorenot publishednot available22,417 ₹ crore1.4%
Total receipts46.53 ₹ lakh crore50.65 ₹ lakh crore49.65 ₹ lakh crorenot publishednot available1.01 ₹ lakh crore2.0%
Revenue expenditure36.01 ₹ lakh crore39.44 ₹ lakh crore38.69 ₹ lakh crore38.36 ₹ lakh croreprovisional1.08 ₹ lakh crore2.7%75,168 ₹ crore1.9%
Interest payments11.16 ₹ lakh crore12.76 ₹ lakh crore12.74 ₹ lakh crore12.43 ₹ lakh croreprovisional33,763 ₹ crore2.6%2,000 ₹ crore0.2%
Capital expenditure10.52 ₹ lakh crore11.21 ₹ lakh crore10.96 ₹ lakh crore10.69 ₹ lakh croreprovisional51,971 ₹ crore4.6%25,335 ₹ crore2.3%
Total expenditure46.53 ₹ lakh crore50.65 ₹ lakh crore49.65 ₹ lakh crore49.05 ₹ lakh croreprovisional1.60 ₹ lakh crore3.2%1.01 ₹ lakh crore2.0%
Fiscal deficit15.74 ₹ lakh crore15.69 ₹ lakh crore15.58 ₹ lakh crore15.19 ₹ lakh croreprovisional49,767 ₹ crore3.2%10,444 ₹ crore0.7%
Revenue deficit5.64 ₹ lakh crore5.24 ₹ lakh crore5.27 ₹ lakh crore5.34 ₹ lakh croreprovisional+9,961 ₹ crore+1.9%+2,918 ₹ crore+0.6%
Primary deficit4.59 ₹ lakh crore2.93 ₹ lakh crore2.84 ₹ lakh crore2.77 ₹ lakh croreprovisional16,004 ₹ crore5.5%8,444 ₹ crore2.9%

Variance is the later figure less the Budget Estimate, and the percentage is of that Budget Estimate. Colour marks whether the movement is welcome for that particular aggregate — capital expenditure overshooting Budget is not the same news as the fiscal deficit overshooting it — and aggregates with no natural direction stay in plain ink.

Where these numbers come from

No single document states a Budget Estimate beside the outturn it produced — the two are published two years apart. So every cell above carries its own citation, and the variance columns are computed from the cells either side of them rather than read from anywhere.

  • Budget at a Glance 2026-2027

    Ministry of Finance · supplies the prior-year Actual, Budget Estimate, Revised Estimate · page 3

    UnverifiedSource record
  • CGA Monthly Accounts, 2025-26 provisional

    Controller General of Accounts · supplies the Actual

    UnverifiedSource record