India to stick to 2015/16 fiscal deficit target - finance ministry report

A street side restaurant owner holds a bundle of currency notes as he sits outside his restaurant in New Delhi November 22, 2013. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/Files

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government will stick to its budgeted fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent of GDP for the fiscal year ending in March 2016, the finance ministry said in a report on Friday. The government hopes to hit the target without cutting expenditure or deferring tax refunds, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier this week. In the budget in February, Jaitley had pledged to narrow the deficit to 3.9 percent of GDP in this fiscal year from 4.0 percent in 2014/15. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Writing by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Malini Menon)