HYDERABAD: Telangana’s growth in tax collection is unstoppable and it is the highest in the country. The State collected Rs 904 crore State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) in March, 2018, a record of sorts after the implementation of GST from July, 2017.The State collected Rs 853 crore SGST in January, 2018. Surpassing this, in March 2018, the State collected Rs 904 crore. In fact, the SGST collections of neighbouring AP are falling, whereas SGST collections in Telangana are going up.
“The growth rate of SGST collections in TS is better than any other state in the country,” principal secretary of Commercial Taxes, Somesh Kumar, told Express on Wednesday. The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) collections are recorded as Rs 799 crore in March in the State.The growth rate in tax collections now is 20 per cent. Officials averred that the growth in tax revenue too would be good in coming months and the State would be able to maintain more than 20 per cent growth in revenue.
Besides, the Commercial Taxes department also succeeded in collecting the dues of Value Added Tax (VAT) before the implementation of GST. The Commercial Taxes department issued notices traders who failed to pay the arrears. “We have realised Rs 564 crore arrears in March alone. Normally, the monthly collection of arrears will be around Rs 100 crore or so,” Somesh Kumar said. The Commercial Taxes department served notices to around 7,000 VAT defaulters in January to collect the arrears of Rs 708 crore.
High petrol price increasing revenue
Meanwhile, the constant hike of prices of petrol and diesel will also help the State government to get more revenues every month. From March 29 to April 3, there has been a steady increase in petrol and diesel prices in Hyderabad. The hike in petrol price is 111 paise and the hike in diesel price is 114 paise from March 29 to April 3.
