State revenue falls short of expectations

Mumbai: Maharashtra has seen dip in revenue this year from major sources, which is worrisome for the state. Revenue from land, stamp duty and registration, custom tax, state excise, housing, and urban development is down by Rs 1,699 crore, Rs 3,547 crore, Rs 297 crore, Rs 1,743 crore, Rs 993 crore and Rs 3,300 crore respectively.     

Due to the deficit, latest budget figures revealed that the state’s borrowing went up to Rs 3.71 lakh crore for the years 2016-17. In the current financial scenario, borrowing would go up to Rs 4.13 lakh crore in the 2017-18, the budget statement said.

The expected land revenue was Rs 3,200 crore while only Rs 1,500 crore was collected. Officials, explaining the dip, have said that the land lease was not renewed.

Also, stamp duty and registration was projected at Rs 23,547 crore, but Rs 20,000 crore was collected. This was due to demonetisation, as the people did not opt for financial transactions, the official said.

Customs expected Rs 4,939 crore in revenue but received only Rs 4,641 crore. The urban development department did not reach its ambitious target of Rs 5,000 crore and managed to collect only Rs 1,700 crore. “Despite giving a lot of incentives to builders and developers, we failed to reach our target,” an official from the department said.

Grants from the Centre have helped the state despite the decrease in the revenue, the budget statement said.

The overall expected revenue receipts of the state are Rs 2.20 lakh crore for 2016-17 as against Rs 1.98 lakh crore during 2015-16. The expected tax and non-tax revenue as per 2016-17 are Rs 1.75 lakh crore and Rs 44,961 respectively. The expected revenue deficit is Rs 3,645 crore, the fiscal deficit is Rs 35,031 and the debt stock is Rs 3,56,213 for the same year.