E-Paper
UP’s economy near normal now, claims govt
UP economy: Though revenue earnings were more than ₹997 cr YOY, the auto sector remained an area of concern
The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday claimed that the state’s economy was returning to near normal with its total revenue collections going up by ₹997.33 crore for October, year on year. The revenue collected in October 2021 was ₹11,670.12 crore against ₹10,672 crore collected in the same month last year.
“The state government’s revenue collections show that the state’s economy, adversely affected by Covid-19, is returning to near normal. Our revenue collections are going up consistently every month now. The relief given by the state government in the VAT on petrol and diesel has been appreciated by all sections of society,” said minister for finance Suresh Khanna while releasing data of revenue collections.
A close scrutiny of the revenue collections, however, shows that the state government’s collections of ₹11,670.12 crore in October 2021 were only 81.6% of the target for the month ( ₹14,303.26 crore). The state government’s GST and VAT collections were ₹6,358.76 crore, about 75.4% of the target for the month ( ₹8,431.01 crore). Its excise collections remained ₹2,638.10 crore, about 105.9% of the target of ₹2,490.00 crore.
The state government’s collections in the transport sector were only ₹580.32 crore about ₹44 lakh less than ₹580.25 crore collected in the month last year. Collections in the transport sector were 65.3% of target for the month ( ₹888.25 crore). The non-tax collection was also down from ₹284.77 crore in October 2020 to ₹224.42 crore in the same month in 2021, about 49.9% of the target of ₹450 crore.
The state government’s total tax collections in 2021-2022 (April 1 to October 31, 2021) were ₹77,655.04 crore, about 74.8% of the target of ₹1,03,833.25 crore for the same period. Its total tax collections in the first seven months of 2021-2022 were only 41.7% of the annual target of ₹1,86,345.00 crore.
“Although the state government’s revenue is rising there are areas of concern, which include the transport sector. This shows that the automobile sector is not doing so well in the state. Another area of concern is non-tax revenue. The state government will therefore have to pay more attention to areas of concern,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department, economics, Lucknow University.
“The relief given in the VAT recently will also have an impact on the state government’s revenue in months to come. The state government should therefore make efforts to augment revenue in coming months,” Tyagi further said.
The state will go into poll mode for 2022 assembly elections. The state government proposes to present a vote on account for the first few months of 2022-2023 in the state legislature. As the state government will not be able to mobilise additional resources to augment revenue, it will have to keep a close watch on revenue recovery under various heads in the coming months.
