The Telangana government has fixed ₹85,112 crore, almost 18 per cent growth over last year, as the revenue target for the fiscal 2024-25, revealed the Outcome Budget for 2024-25 of the Commercial Taxes Department. The document was tabled in the assembly on Monday by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who also holds the portfolio of Commercial Taxes.
The document states that during the April-June 2024 period for the fiscal 2024-25, the revenue collections reported a growth of 8 per cent at ₹19,000 crore. The target (Budget Estimates) for the financial year is ₹85,112 crore and the proportionate target for the April-June 2024 period is ₹20,950 crore against which achievement in the current financial year up to June 2024 has been 91 per cent, according to the Outcome Budget document.
The document spells out the road map for the way forward. These include focusing on data analytics, that is strengthening the department to identify potential dealers likely to indulge in fraudulent transactions and prevent them rather than trying to identify them after committing tax evasion. Focus on strethening enforcement operations, filling up all vacancies in the Department, and strengthening IT infrastructure to improve operational efficiency.
Besides, continuous awareness programmes on GST for all the stakeholders for speedy and smooth implementation of GST, early disposal of long pending cases, evolving strategies for achieving higher growth rate, comparative revenue analysis with other states in order to avoid revenue diversion and joint operations with central officials for maximum complaince on return filings.
Reflecting on comparative revenue performance, it said, “despite the general economic slowdown in the country, Telangana State due to its progressive policy, use of IT and data analytics has been able to maintain a positive growth rate. For the year 2018-19 Telangana did not receive any compensation. The State received GST compensation of ₹2,263 crore in 2019-20, ₹5483 in 2020-21, ₹6,576 crore in 2021-22, ₹4,062 crore in 2022-23 and ₹625 crore in 2023-24.”
The tax base, which was around 2.18 lakh under VAT, has significantly increased by 102 per cent post-introduction of GST, and the number of tax payers in the State presently is 5.24 lakh.