Punjab finance secretary raises alarm as revenue from GST, excise dips

The collection from state excise was Rs 1,093 crore in April last year.

This year, there is a collection of Rs 865 crore, registering a negative growth of 21 per cent.

Kumar has now written to the excise and taxation departments.

Cash-crunched Punjab has been depending on collections from GST and excise in the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), after taking over the reins of the state, had recorded a steady increase in collections from GST and excise.

It was for the first time that the state’s collections from excise crossed the Rs 10,000 crore mark during the last fiscal.

The government is looking at further revenue enhancement.

However, the April collections have been a dampener at a time when the government is looking at mopping up more revenue.

The communication also states that the departments, which were to collect cess under the Punjab State Cancer and Drug Addiction Treatment Infrastructure Fund Act (CADA), 2013, but have not been collecting the due revenue.

As a result, the receipt under this Act has been decreasing continuously from Rs 79.09 crore in the 2023-24 financial year to Rs 41.91 crore in 2024-25.

The departments concerned that collect CADA are agriculture and farmers welfare, excise and taxation, health and family welfare, housing and urban development, industries and commerce, local government, medical education and research, public works, PIDB, revenue and rehabilitation, rural development and panchayats, social security and development of women and child.

The communication also states that an internal audit organisation had conducted an audit of the surcharge of social security, and it was noted that the transport department failed to collect revenue of Rs 13.49 crore under the provisions of the Act.

The department did not collect Rs 4.97 crore from commercial vehicles and Rs 8.52 crore from non-commercial vehicles.

Also, there was a negative growth of 29 per cent in sale proceeds of maps collected by urban development department, negative growth of 99 per cent from contribution from Employees State Insurance Corporation, and negative growth of 42 per cent in CADA fund by the health department and 53 per cent in cultural heritage, maintenance and development fund.

Sources said that Chief Secretary K A P Sinha may call a meeting of the secretaries of the departments concerned and discuss the issue.

“The finance secretary has to be responsible for paying the salaries of the employees at the right time and spend on other expenditures. The state is already cash-crunched. Every leakage has to be plugged,” an official said.

A senior government functionary said that the dip in GST collections was due to the Centre recovering Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) worth Rs 859.24 crore.

“Our gross collection was Rs 2,653.77 crore, which was the highest in April compared to previous years. We kept urging the Centre not to deduct the entire amount at once. We had requested them to deduct about Rs 100 crore every month. However, we lost Rs 1,057 crore for less refund and recovery of IGST. That is why this is showing a dip in the net collections,” he said.

He added that the recovery of Rs 859.24 crore has been affected by the Goods and Services Tax Council from Punjab. This recovery has been done from all the states due to the negative balance in the IGST ledger as decided in the 55th GST council meeting held in December 2024.