Revenue shortfall post-GST at Rs 36K cr: Mitra

Kolkata: There has been a shortfall of Rs 36,000 crore in projected revenues in the first four months post Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation, Bengal Finance minister Amit Mitra said on Friday.

While the projected collection at 14 percent growth was Rs 1,72,000 crore, the actual figure realised had been Rs 1,36,000 crore, resulting in a deficit of Rs 36,000 crore for the first four months till November, Mitra, who is also a GST Council member, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. GST was rolled out from July 1, this year.

He said the compensation amount, in case of revenue loss of the states after GST was Rs 55,000 crore. This amount semed inadequate in the collection figures as it did not gain traction.

According to Mitra, the main reason for the deficit was the inability of a vast section of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to register themselves on the GSTN portal. "Due to this, many of them had gone back to the manual mode", he said.

In this regard, Mitra said he had urged the Centre to raise the compensation amount.

Meanwhile, Mitra informed that Shalimar Works of the state government had formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with a Bangladeshi ship building firm to manufacture ships here. "We have got the clearance from the Union Ministry of Defence as well as the Ministry of External Affairs. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will soon be formed by Shalimar Works and the Bangladesh-based company and they will jointly build ships for civilians," state Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra said while inaugurating the 16th India International Mega Trade Fair (IIMTF) at Science City grounds on Friday.

The Centre has accorded all the clearances for the SPV, he said.

Moreover, a city-based agro processing firm — IFB Agro — has expressed desire to set up a phyto-sanitary compliance unit at Haldia for a shrimp processing plant, he said. "76 percent of these prawns are being exported from Bengal and IFB is setting up a phytosanitary compliant unit in Haldia which will give a big boost to the export of shrimps," an optimistic Mitra stated.

The Shalimar Works was established more than a century ago by Turner Morrison Group of Companies, UK, for the purpose of construction and repair of ships which grew to be one of the biggest ship repairing units of India during the British rule. After Independence, the ownership of the company changed several hands before the assets of the company were wholly acquired by the state government and thus The Shalimar Works (1980) Limited was incorporated in 1981. The company, once again, emerged as a major shipbuilding and ship-repairing unit in the eastern coast of India. Since then, it is primarily engaged in shipbuilding, ship-repairing, general engineering and project activities.

The minister expressed his delight over Myanmar's participation and urged the organisers to rope in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. "We have 1,150 stalls this year and the footfall is expected to be around 10 lakh. This year, two additional countries like China and The Netherlands have joined. Business is expected to be 15 percent more. This trade fair must target to have 2,000 stalls and involve 26 countries within the next few years," he stated.