HP revenue collections up 17.3%
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government has posted 17 .3 per cent increase in its GST collections till December 31, 2019. However, debt burden has grown, exceeding Rs 51,000-crore mark, forcing fresh public borrowings of Rs 500 crore this week.
"Total revenue collected up to December 2019 is Rs 3653.68 crore against Rs 3115.17 crore during December 2018. There is significant increase of Rs 538.51 crore gross revenue collection, which is notable 17.3 percent hike," said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday.
Thakur said during his budget representation, he had hinted at possibilities of higher revenue collections due to effective implementation of the policies and plugging of the leakages. The efforts have really paid off. Chief Minister said total SGST revenue collected till December 2019 was Rs 1207.59 crore. This was at Rs 796.08 crore during the corresponding period of 2018.
Total excise revenue collected up to December 2019 was Rs 1177.1 crore as compared to Rs 1058.2 crore up to December, 2018. Other taxes collected up to December 2019 were Rs 325.71 crore as compared to Rs 302.87 crore collected up to December 2018.
Analysis done by the department said Sanjay Kundu, Additional Chief Secretary (Excise and Taxations), show that Solan district has posted highest Rs 745.51 crore gross revenue against Rs 674.88 crore in 2018. Chamba collected gross revenue of Rs 102.8 crore and Sirmaur Rs 224.81 crore.
Kundu, who is also principal secretary to CM informed that excise revenue has also shown a significant increase in the districts of Shimla from Rs 127.79 crore to Rs 136.92 crore and Mandi from Rs 94.54 crore to 101.64 crore during 2019. Kullu and Bilaspur has also shown an upward trend while Kangra has a minor fall.
However the VAT income is on the lower side due to reduced taxes on petrol and diesel from October 2018 to October 2019.
Right now, Himachal Pradesh has a debt of Rs 51,000 crore. The fiscal liability amounts to around 37.55 per cent of the state GDP, way above the 22.3 per cent limit prescribed by the 14th Finance Commission.
This week, the government has decided to raise loan of Rs 500 crore to carry out commitments on the development.The debt liability is bound to grow by March 2020.
The opposition says "the BJP government is surviving on the loans as it has not made any effort on resource mobilisation. Rather, it has drained public money on events like Global Investors' meet or celebrating its two years. Illegal mining, timber smuggling, forest felling and drug trafficking are rampant. This has resulted in complete lawlessness and tax leakages," said Mukesh Agnihotri, Leader of Opposition.
