Delhi has recorded less revenue in the last fiscal (2013-14) to the tune of Rs 1,162 crore. What is worrying is the fact that the revenue shortage occurred despite the Government lowering its annual revenue target by Rs 3,000 crore.
The revised revenue was pegged at Rs 27,075 crore but the achieved target fell to Rs 25,913 crore. At a Head of Departments (HoDs) meeting, Chief Secretary expressed annoyance over the sharp decline of revenue despite regular monitoring of the revenue collection. During the meeting, Principal Secretary, Finance made a detailed presentation and cited reasons for the low collection in revenue.
According to the Finance Department, the shortfall in the realisation of revenue was due to the reduced tax collection of Rs 834 crore under Stamps and Registration Fee, Rs 270 crore under Value Added Tax (VAT), Rs 48 crore under State Excise and Rs 18 crore under luxury Tax. What was noteworthy was the performance of the Transport Department that managed to achieve the revenue collection target. The presentation by the Principal Secretary, Finance, Dr MM Kutty prompted a terse response from the CS, who expressed his displeasure that the despite his repeated instruction, the deficit in revenue collection has taken place and that was not acceptable, sources said.
Annoyed over the less collection of revenue, the CS also asked the concerned principal secretaries and the other officials to analyse the reasons and effort should be made to address the same. The CS also directed that the officers responsible for the shortfall in revenue collection should be identified and pulled up as the State exchequer has suffered due to their incompetence. Meanwhile, the Finance Department claimed that the total tax collection by the Delhi Government during 2013-14 has been Rs 25,913 crore registering a growth of 10.6 per cent as compared to Rs 23,432 crore during 2012-13 in spite of the slowdown in the economy.
The collection under VAT was Rs 17,926 crore indicating a growth of 13.4 per cent over the collection of Rs 15,804 crore during 2012-13 while the motor vehicle tax also registered a 13.4 per cent growth by collecting Rs 1,406 crore during 2013-14, according to the tax collection data of the Planning Department. The collection under State excise was Rs 3,152 crore having a growth of 9.8 per cent over previous year’s collection of Rs 2,870 crore. Under luxury tax, an amount Rs 307 crore was collected in 2013-14 as compared to Rs 294 crore during 2012-13. Similarly, Rs 146 crore was collected as entertainment tax as compared to Rs 117 crore during 2012-13.