VIJAYAWADA: The revenue collection in the third quarter (October 1 to December 31) of the current fiscal in the State saw an impressive rise. Though there is an overall negative growth rate of 11.82 per cent at the end of the third quarter of the 2020-2021 fiscal, when compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, there was 30 per cent growth in revenue collection.
The data of revenue collection by the end of the third quarter accessed by The New Indian Express shows that except in liquor, growth of the remaining categories stood more or less the same as the corresponding period last year. While GST collection recorded 2.06 per cent growth, tax from petroleum products stood 1.21 per cent less and professional tax recorded 3.13 per cent less growth in the first three quarters compared to last year.
Revenue from liquor stood at a meagre Rs 3,979.55 crore as against the target of Rs 9,137.35 crore in the first three quarters. Though the revenue collections were meagre in the first quarter because of the COVID-lockdown, positive signs started in the second quarter and the results became very positive in the third quarter.
With achieving 41.64 per cent jump in GST revenue compared to the third quarter of the previous fiscal, the overall growth of the GST collection by the end of December this fiscal stood at 2.06 per cent. Similarly, petroleum products, liquor and professional tax also registered positive growth rates in the third quarter compared to the corresponding period of the 2019-20 financial year.
Thus, the impressive revenue collections in the third quarter resulted in the overall (GST + petroleum products + liquor + professional tax) achievement target reaching to 73.85 per cent from 45.33 per cent in the first quarter (April to June 2020), thereby reducing the growth rate over the last year to -11.82 per cent.
Chief Commissioner (Commercial Taxes) Peeyush Kumar said the special drive taken up by the department pushed up GST revenue by over Rs 1,000 crore in the third quarter. He exuded confidence of reaching the annual target by performing well in the last quarter. Stating that AP stood top in the table of collection of GST in South India, he said that while many of the Southern states recorded negative growth from June 2020 to December 2020 compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, AP registered 8.23 per cent growth.