Chidambaram in New Delhi on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

New Delhi, Oct. 22: India may fail to meet its fiscal and revenue deficit targets for 2008-09 because of the global financial meltdown.

“The global financial crisis is exerting pressure on all economies and it’s likely that we may overshoot the budget estimates,” finance minister P. Chidambaram said.

In the 2008-09 Union budget, the government had set a target of reducing the fiscal and the revenue deficits to 2.5 per cent and one per cent, respectively, of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Analysts had forecast that the country could end up with a fiscal deficit in the range of 3.5 per cent to 4 per cent because of major expenses involved in doling out oil bonds and fertiliser subsidies.

The Rajya Sabha today also passed the supplementary demand for grants which calls for an extra cash outgo of Rs 1,06,000 crore on a slew of schemes launched by the government. This could result in larger government borrowing.

Chidambaram said the government would exceed its borrowing target for the first time in four years. The higher expenditure would, however, stimulate growth.

For 2008-09, the targeted borrowing is Rs 1,45,000 crore. The government has already raised Rs 1,06,000 crore. The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act binds the government to cut fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 2008-09.