Agra genset industry falls short of target

Barely 5-6 years ago, the Agra generator industry was the single-largest revenue source for the UP trade tax department but over the past couple of years, this sector has become "sick", causing the state to continually lose revenue by more than 25 per cent each year.

According to UP trade tax department sources, the Agra diesel generator industry manufactured over 125,000 gensets each year and the trade tax earned from the sale of the gensets formed a major chunk of the department's revenue but after the Central and UP pollution control boards proscribed the manufacture of canopy-less and non-CPCB compliant generators in Agra, the generator market has seen a major slump and as a result, the trade tax department too, had been losing revenue to the tune of over 25 per cent each year.

Talking to Business Standard, J P Srivastava, additional commissioner UP trade tax department said the Agra zone had been given a revenue target of about Rs 463 crore this year but with the generator industry becoming "sick" after the implementation of the pollution norms, the department lost a significant part of the revenue expected from this industry and had been forced to search for alternate sources of revenue to complete its annual target. It was adopting measures like asking the industrialists to deposit trade tax in advance.

Srivastava said the numbers of generator producing units in Agra registered with the department had dropped significantly in the past two years with the closure of many small and mid-scale units and the other, "established" sources of revenue were also not turning out revenue according to the expected figures.

According to Srivastava, in the new financial year, the target for the state had been set at around Rs 15,000 crore and for Agra, the target was expected to be raised by another Rs 110 crore, which meant that with the generator industry in trouble and the other industries of the town not faring well too, the department will have to develop new sources for increasing its revenue collection.