The territorial administration is on an overdrive to mobilise as much revenue internally as possible by spiking service tariffs and tax structure.
With revenue from the commercial tax, excise, and revenue departments, three major contributors to the exchequer, taking a hit after demonetisation, the government has been compelled to look for additional resource mobilisation avenues.
The move to find own resources was prompted by the not so encouraging signs of adequate financial allocation by the Centre.
With two months left for the closure of this financial year, the Commercial Taxes Department has netted a revenue of around ₹1,284 crore as against ₹1,438 crore last fiscal. Going by the monthly collection, an official said, the rise this fiscal could be marginal.
While the Excise Department could fetch more revenue than ₹673 crore collected last fiscal, the revenue from the stamp duty collection could be much below ₹117 crore collected last year.
Six-fold increase
As a first step, the government increased water tariff by six fold two months ago. The government had increased the existing water tariff to ₹3 from 50 paise per unit.
“We are still working on the revenue impact, but we expect a substantial increase. We are rectifying defective meters,” an official with the Public Works Department told The Hindu .
Along with water tariff, sewerage collection charge was substantially increased based on plinth area, he added. On Tuesday, the government increased the additional excise duty on all segments of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and beer in the Union Territory.
The Excise Department expects to earn additional ₹80 crore to ₹100 crore annually by the latest increase.
The revised rates came into effect after an order for the same was notified in the gazette on February 8.
According to the notification, the government has increased the additional excise duty on cheap brands whose declared price per case was up to ₹399 to ₹38 from ₹30. Similarly, the excise duty on brands whose declared price per case is above ₹2,000 has been increased to ₹226 from ₹181.
Normally, Additional Excise duty is calculated based on bulk litre in case of IMFL and beer. The increase in additional excise duty would translate to an increase of ₹2 to ₹8 on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of various brands. The revised rates will be applicable for new brands entering the market.
According to statistics available with the Excise Department, the additional excise duty on IMFL, beer and wine were last increased in August 2013.
