PTI New Delhi

The Central government does not foresee any revenue shortfall at this stage and aims to achieve the targets fixed in the Budget Estimates for 2025-26, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament on Tuesday. As per the Budget, the Centre has estimated the fiscal deficit for 2025-26 at 4.4 per cent of GDP, amounting to Rs 15.69 lakh crore.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the Central government supports state finances through Finance Commission grants, Centrally Sponsored Schemes, and Special Assistance as loans to states for capital expenditure.

Total resources being transferred to the states, including the devolution of state's share in taxes, grants/loans and releases under Centrally Sponsored Schemes, etc, in Budget Estimates for 2025-26 is about Rs 25.01 lakh crore, he said. In reply to another question, Chaudhary said, as per inputs received from Public Sector Banks (PSBs), as on March 31, 2025, 96 per cent staff are in position against their business requirement.

The small proportion of gap is attributable to attrition on account of superannuation and other usual factors, including unplanned exits, he said. Further, during the last 5 years (FY 2020-25), banks have recruited 1,48,687 employees, and for FY 2025-26, recruitment of 48,570 employees is underway, he added.

Replying to another question, Chaudhary said, insurers are required to decide on the request for cashless authorisation within 1 hour of receipt of such request and grant final authorisation within 3 hours of the receipt of discharge authorisation request from the hospital as per IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance Business dated May 29, 2024.

However, the data related to the average time taken by insurance companies and third-party administrators (TPAs) for the claim settlement is not maintained by IRDAI, he said. IRDAI has informed that during FY 2023-24, 58.39 per cent of total claims were settled through cashless mode in terms of count and 66.16 per cent in terms of amount, he said.

Corporate tax revenue foregone at `99K cr in FY24: Pankaj Chaudhary

The government is estimated to have forgone around Rs 99,000 crore in revenue in the 2023-24 fiscal on account of tax incentives extended to corporates, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday. Corporate tax rates have been gradually reduced since 2016 while phasing out the exemptions and incentives.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Chaudhary gave the estimated revenue forgone due to the tax incentives by way of various deductions in corporate tax, from FY 2019-20 to 2023-24. The corporate tax revenue foregone in 2023-24 stood at Rs 98,999, followed by Rs 88,109 crore and Rs 96,892 crore in 2022-23 and 2021-22, respectively.