First year VAT mop-up at 14%

The revenue growth of the 25 states under value added tax in 2005-06, the first year of implementation, has been a modest 14 per cent. This is marginally lower than the 15 per cent revenue growth registered up to end-February, the first 11 months of VAT.

Finance ministry officials said the marginal dip in the growth rate was mainly on account of lower growth in revenue during March. "In the case of states like West Bengal and Maharashtra, the revenue collection in March was lower due to large amount of refunds," an official said.

Total revenue collection of the 25 states under VAT was Rs 75,979 crore compared with Rs 66,597 crore during 2004-05, an increase of 14.1 per cent.

While states like Delhi witnessed a revenue growth of 35.3 per cent, Andhra Pradesh saw a growth of 22 per cent, Maharashtra 11 per cent, Karnataka 7.1 per cent, Kerala 4.3 per cent and West Bengal, (whose data is available up to February), 9.5 per cent.

Bihar and Sikkim were the only two states which registered a decline in revenue collections during the year. While Bihar witnessed a 0.2 per cent dip in collections, Sikkim witnessed a 27 per cent decline.

Some of the North-East states and Union territories have witnessed a huge increase in revenue collections on account of a lower base.

Daman and Diu witnessed a whopping 89 per cent increase with collection of Rs 117 crore against Rs 62 crore in 2004-05. North-East states like Mizoram registered an increase of 57 per cent, Meghalaya 47 per cent, Manipur 43.5 per cent and Nagaland 22 per cent.