Telangana Stamps department’s revenue goes downhill from September
HYDERABAD: The Telangana Registrations and Stamps Department is witnessing a worrying decline in its revenues this year. The unchanged stamp duty and ongoing economic slowdown in the country, are stipulated to have collectively affected the department’s revenues this year.
By the end of October 2019, the state government’s revenue from stamp duty collections is nearly Rs 2,800 crore short of its target.
“For 2019-20, the department has set a target for itself to register 18 lakh documents with a revenue of Rs 7,000 crore. But so far, it could manage only 11 lakh documents with a revenue of Rs 4,200 crore,” said T Chiranjeevulu, Commissioner and Inspector General, Registration and Stamps Department. The growth in the department’s revenue has slowed down in the past few months, starting from September this year, the commissioner added.
Between September and October this year, the department’s revenue rose from Rs 498 crore and to Rs 532 crore. In order to reach the estimated target, the department is required to collect at least Rs 560 crore per month, for the next five months. So far, in November first week we have collected about Rs 135 crore.
With all the land transactions in the State being done with stamp duty, the fact that it has remained unchanged is now hurting the department’s income, said an official from the department, on the condition of anonymity. It may be noted that Telangana still follows the stamp duty system which was set up by the rulers of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
While AP has revised its system, it remained unchanged in Telangana. Meanwhile, it is not just the stamps department, the whole State’s revenues have taken hit due to the economic slowdown this year.