Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said that fiscal deficit situation in the country is much better than what it was during the UPA regime. Wrapping up a debate on Union Budget 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha, Mr Jaitley said, the NDA came to power in 2014, the fiscal deficit was 4.6 per cent, and it came down to 3.2 per cent during the present government. <br/><br/>He expressed hope that next year it will be at the level of 3 per cent. He criticized the UPA policy of cutting the expenditure in various sectors which led to slow growth. He said, the Budget Estimates during UPA government in 2012-13 was 5.21 lakh crore rupees but it spent only 4.13 lakh crore rupees.<br/><br/>On inflation, he said, RBI has now targeted it at 4 per cent but currently it is at 3.6 per cent.He also hit out at the Congress over high NPAs of banks saying that it was the legacy of UPA government. Mr Jaitley said, the present government increased the expenditure in various sectors especially in rural areas. <br/><br/>The Finance Minister said, the revenue collections have gone up by 17 per cent in last two years. He said, post demonetisation, the VAT collections of the States have also gone up except two States. He said, the currency which has come back into the banking system will increase lending capacity of banks. <br/><br/>He said, the Reserve Bank of India will release the accurate figure of amounts that came to the system after completing the whole exercise. Mr Jaitley also mentioned, that India is a high cash economy as compared to the advanced and emerging economies of the world which leads to parallel economy, corruption and tax evasion. <br/><br/>He said, the contentious issues related to the GST have been sorted out with consensus and once implemented, it will lead to an efficient tax system. Mr Jaitley said, it is the first budget in which the government has not increased the tax burden except in one sector. He said, the government is focussing on rural areas and it has allocated 1.86 lakh crore rupees in the Budget towards this. On political funding, <br/><br/>Mr Jailtey said, the government is open to suggestion to make it more transparent. Later the House was adjourned for the day. It will now meet on 9th of March,2017 after a month long recess.