Uttar Pradesh’s revenue increases 42% YoY in May

The transport department’s collection of Rs 314.62 crore, though showing a threefold rise over May 2020’s collection of Rs 99.86 crore, is just 39.6% of the month’s target.

Uttar Pradesh’s tax revenues (OTRs) have risen significantly in May 2021 from the year-ago period, but are still in the range of 50% of the target, information gathered by FE suggests.

A graded pick-up in the industrial activities, despite the Covid-19 induced curfew imposed in the state, have aided the slow recovery and the gains are mainly due to a rise in GST, VAT collections.

According to the finance department data accessed by FE, the state mopped up Rs 8,272.55 crore as tax and non-tax revenue in May 2021, an increase of 42% from Rs 5,820 crore collected a year ago. However, this is just 52.7% of the target of collecting Rs 15,683.37 crore for the month.

The GST revenue in May 2021 was Rs 2,771.32 crore, which was 48.1% of the target of Rs 5,764.74 crore for the month, while the VAT collection of Rs 2,286.44 crore was 90.7% of the target at Rs 2,520.63 crore. In May 2020, the GST collections stood at Rs 1,939.52 crores, while the VAT collection was Rs 1,019.65 crore, the data showed.

Interestingly, the alcohol excise revenue, which had bailed out the government in the previous months, fell in May to Rs 2,138.86 crore, against Rs 2,169.25 crore collected in last May. While the drop of Rs 30.39 crore against last year’s earnings is merely 1.5%, the department managed to collect only 52.5% of the Rs 4,073 crore target set for the month.

Though the state’s performance in collecting Rs 625.03 crore stamp duty has shown an increase over Rs 349.52 crore collected in May 2020, the department still managed to collect just 28.5% of the target of Rs 2,192 crore.

The transport department’s collection of Rs 314.62 crore, though showing a threefold rise over May 2020’s collection of Rs 99.86 crore, is just 39.6% of the month’s target.

The mining department, too, reported a lower revenue of Rs 136.28 crore compared to Rs 242.24 crore for the same period last year, which is 60% short of the month’s target of collecting Rs 338 crore.

The state’s finance minister, Suresh Khanna, however, said that in the light of the curfew imposed in the state, performance was good. “We have achieved 52.7% of our target for May. In light of the Covid-19 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.