UP’s economy near normal now: Govt
LUCKNOW: 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 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 nontax 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. Another area of concern is non-tax revenue,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department, economics, Lucknow University.