The Andhra Pradesh government has seen a moderate growth in its revenues for the first quarter ending June 2012, over the corresponding quarter last year, according to sources. The government, however, chose to remain non-committal.
“Why do you want to know the numbers in the first quarter itself when the real picture on the revenue front would be known only in the last quarter of the financial year?” state finance minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy asked the waiting reporters after a review meeting held on resource mobilisation at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
Even as the minister hinted that the revenue targets will be achieved during the full-year period, the less-than-anticipated resources at hand are expected to restrict the government’s expenditure on programmes proposed in the plan outlays.
Less-than-anticipated revenues from excise, transport and stamps and registrations are said to have resulted in the dismal growth in the overall tax receipts for the quarter, according to sources.
While commercial taxes (VAT), the single-largest stream of the state’s own revenues, have reportedly grown by around 13 per cent to Rs 9,000 crore, the increase has been far lower compared to the growth numbers of the previous quarters or the current year’s target of 23 per cent growth set for the state’s own tax receipts.
The excise, stamps and registrations and transport departments are the other three important revenue sources after commercial taxes, while mining revenues stand fifth in terms of size.
The government has proposed a 21.70 per cent growth target for the state’s own revenues, both in tax and non-tax receipts, at Rs 79,873 crore for the current year, as compared to Rs 65,629.5 crore last year.
The minister said that he would be reviewing the performance of each of the revenue-earning departments starting tomorrow.