New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said that it would achieve the fiscal targets fixed in the Budget Estimates for 2025-26 without foreseeing any revenue shortfall at this stage. 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, according to the finance ministry.Informing Parliament, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that the Central government supports state finances through finance commission grants, centrally-sponsored schemes, and special assistance as loans to states for capital expenditure. “The Centre does not foresee any revenue shortfall at this stage and aims to achieve the targets fixed in the Budget Estimates for 2025-26,” he said.In reply to another question, Chaudhary also said that as per inputs received from public sector banks, 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, he said that 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. “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,” Chaudhary said.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. “The insurance regulator 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.
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