HYDERABAD: In spite of moving towards a cashless system of collecting payments much before demonetisation, there appears to be a considerable drop in the number of users and transactions, now provided online, and at e-seva and Meeseva centres.
Admitting the same, an official, on condition of anonymity, revealed that the state Road Transport Authority has suffered a 28.18 pc loss in revenue this year.
“For financial year 2014-15 we earned `29.80 crore in payments for vehicle registration and other services provided online. But it dropped down to `21.40 crore this year,” said C Ramesh, deputy transport commissioner.
Since demonetisation was announced on Nov 8 the RTA has seen a drop in the number of transactions being conducted on its portal. “We had a growth rate of 22.30 pc in the number of transactions on the portal till October. But the growth rate dropped to less than 10 pc since then,” he said.
On Aug 2 this year, the RTA introduced cashless system for all its services. Through this, the users could fill applications online and avail service at e-seva or Meeseva centres. Though the system had glitches initially, the RTA has, over the time, made efforts to make transactions on the portal seamless for the public.
The official attributes the loss of ` 8.40 crore to low volume of vehicle sales. “The number of vehicle registrations has slowed down as people are not buying vehicles. This could be one of the reasons for the dip in revenue,” explained the deputy commissioner.
The revenue from one-time vehicle life tax has also seen a 3.17 pc drop. “In 2014-15 we collected ` 95.37 crore as one-time life tax on vehicles but this time it was `92.34 crore,” he said.