State registers 24 pc hike in GST

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10

While several other states have witnessed dip in tax revenue after the GST regime introduced in July last year, Haryana has succeeded in increasing its revenue by 24.1 per cent in 2017-18 from the preceding year from the VAT, CST and SGST.

Also, Haryana witnessed a hike of 8 per cent in collection of revenue from excise on liquor during the same period though several other states witnessed a downward trend due to the Supreme Court’s order banning grant of licences near the national highways.

“The total collection of taxes during 2016-17 (from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017) was Rs 24,301.61 crore. As against this, the state collected Rs 29,941.43 crore from VAT, CST and SGST in 2017-18 (from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018), an increase of Rs 5,639.82 crore from the tax collection of last year,” said Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary (Excise and Taxation Department).

From April 1 to June 30 last year, VAT and CST were applicable, while from July 1, 2017, GST regime was launched.

“The collection from excise on liquor was Rs 5,028.11 crore in 2017-18 against Rs 4,655.84 crore in 2016-17,” Kaushal added.

Sources say that Haryana has been maintaining a position in top five states of the country in generation of revenue after the GST regime and has been collecting more than double the collections by the neighbouring Punjab.

Better management helped the state in collecting more revenues despite unfavourable conditions, both in case of VAT, CST, GST as well as that of excise on liquor, said the sources.

Just before the launch of GST, the state came with one-time settlement policy for recovery of pending VAT by announcing 90 per cent waiver in interest amount and 75 per cent waiver in penalty.

The move paid rich dividends to the state as it could mop up Rs 2,300 crore in a month.

Similarly, by announcing alternative tax compliance scheme for builders, Haryana could mop up tax revenue of Rs 883 crore from builders and contractors.

On the excise side, the Haryana Government increased its revenue from L-1 BF (wholesale licence for imported foreign liquor) from Rs 22 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 105 crore in 2017-18 by changing the terms and conditions, said the sources.

By introducing composite liquor vends that sell country-made as well as Indian-made foreign liquor instead of the earlier separate vends, Haryana reduced number of vends from 3,900 to 2,323 and successfully dealt with the problem of fewer sites in the wake of Supreme Court order regarding ban of licences near the highways, the sources added.