The Punjab government’s revenue collection under all heads, with the exception of GST, saw a dip in December last year when compared to the same period in 2021, leading to concerns among some circles about the state’s financial health.
An analysis of the data released by the state government showed that the state’s revenue collections saw a decline in December last year, even when compared to November 2022.
The state’s financial coffers have already been under stress with the AAP government in July last year rolling out its free electricity scheme, a major poll promise that helped it sweep power in the Assembly polls. The financial implication of the scheme which entails 300 units of free power to every eligible household — has been pegged at Rs 22,000 crore. This amount includes free power to agriculture sector, industry and for people belonging to Scheduled Castes. The cash-crunched government has already borrowed Rs 30,000 crore in the first three quarters to keep afloat.
Punjab’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection has emerged as its sole face saver, with the state recording an increase of Rs 240.24 crore in collection in December last year when compared to December of 2021. As per details, the GST collection in December 2022 was Rs 1354.83 crore, compared to Rs 1114.59 crore in the same month in 2021.
Data also showed a 21.55 per cent increase in GST collections in December (Rs 1354.83 crore), compared to November last year.
The state government had set an ambitious target of Rs 20,500 crore from GST collections in the three quarters of the current fiscal year that ends on March 31 this year. It has so far been able to collect just Rs 13322.59 crore, at an average of less than Rs 4500 crore every quarter. The government will need to collect more than Rs 7177 crore in the last fiscal in order to meet its target which looks increasingly improbable at the moment.
During November last year, the state had recorded an increase of 12.32 per cent in GST revenues, when compared to the corresponding period in 2021. While the state had raked in Rs 1412.15 crore as GST in November 2022, the figure for the corresponding period in 2021 was Rs 1257.32 crore.
The GST collection, data showed, had registered 24.5 per cent increase jumping from Rs 9612.6 crore in 2021-22 (April 2021 to November 2021) to Rs 11967.76 crore in 2022-23 (April 2022 to November 2022).
Meanwhile, data showed that the state’s excise collections in December 2022 saw a dip when compared to December 2021 and November 2022. While in December 2021, the excise collection was Rs 625.54 crore, it came down by Rs 21.19 crore (Rs 604.35 crore) in December 2022. The state’s excise revenue, data further said, had seen a decrease of 3.39 per cent in December 2022, when compared to November in the same year, without mentioning absolute figures.
A comparison of total excise collections up till December in the last and current fiscal year, however, shows an increase of Rs 1330.84 crore. The government has so far generated Rs 5940 crore from excise, against a target of Rs 9,000 crore that it had set itself for the current fiscal. It will need to collect at least Rs 3,000 crore in the next quarter in order to meet that target.
Source: The Indian Express
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