UP's revenue up 42% in May despite Corona curfew

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh earned Rs 8,272 crore in May this year, a jump of 42% over Rs 5,820 crore which it mopped up as tax and non-tax revenue in May 2020, when the entire state was under corona curfew.
Interestingly, excise revenue fell by Rs 30 crore compared to May 2020, fetching the government Rs 2,138 crore this year while mining, too, reported a lower revenue of Rs 136 crore compared to Rs 242 crore for the same period.
Finance minister Suresh Khanna said that the gains are due to a rise in GST, VAT, stamp duty and transport. “We have achieved 52.7% of our target for the month of May for tax and non-tax revenue. In light of the Corona curfew, this is a good achievement. It is also substantially more than the revenue in the same period last year, up by Rs 2,452 crore,” he said.
The state’s revenue in April this year, by when the second Corona wave had picked up, was Rs 11,196 crore. However, Corona curfew which saw a near total closure of commercial activities, came into place only in the beginning of May and was lifted in most districts only from June 1.
In May 2021, the tax revenue of the government was Rs 8,136 crore while in 2020, it was Rs 5,577 crore, an increase of Rs 2,558 crore. The government mopped up 53% of its tax revenue target for the month. Data shared by the finance department shows a GST revenue of Rs 2,771 crore, 48.1% of the target for the month. In VAT, the collection was 90.7% of the target at Rs 2,286 crore. Compared to May 2020, VAT collection was Rs 1,266 crore higher.
Stamp duty also increased significantly over May 2020’s Rs 349.52 crore to touch Rs 625.03 crore though it was 28.5% of the target for the month. Transport saw a threefold rise over May 2020. From a collection of Rs 99.86 crore, it went up to Rs 314.62 crore which is almost 40% of the target.
The only head under which revenue fell under the tax bracket was in excise even though with a collection of Rs 2,138.86 crore, the department met 52.5% of its target.
Under the non-tax head, mining is the major source of income which saw a drop of Rs 105.91 crore over May 2020 collections. This month, the department saw collections of Rs 136.28 crore to meet 40% of its target for the month.