Firms get Rs 900-cr tax exemption

 The State government has granted tax exemption or deferment to the tune of Rs 907.14 crore to companies, including waiver of Value Added Tax (VAT), during the first three quarters (April-December) of the financial year 2013-14.

The 24 companies that got tax concession, to encourage them to invest in the State, include Toyota Kirloskar Motors, which got Central Sales Tax (CST) deferment to the tune of Rs 170.32 crore and another Rs 139.55 crore VAT deferment for its car-manufacturing unit in Bidadi.

During the last fiscal, the firm had got Rs 4 crore VAT exemption, besides CST deferment and VAT deferment to the tune of Rs 278 crore and Rs 212 crore, respectively.

Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Limited in Mangalore tops the list of concessions this fiscal by getting Rs 111.28 crore CST exemption and another Rs 399 crore entry tax exemption. West Coast Paper Mills in Dandeli, Uttara Kannada, got Rs 12.49 crore CST deferment, while Khayati Steel Industries in Nanjangud, Mysore district, got a VAT soft loan of Rs 7.3 crore.

The list of companies which got the exemptions was made available in the Medium Term Fiscal Plan (MTFP) 2014-18, presented along with the budget proposals in the Legislative Assembly.

According to the document, during the previous financial year as many as 145 firms had got tax concession from the State government, totalling Rs 902 crore. Sources in the commercial taxes department said the exemption or deferment of taxes were as per the norms of the State industrial policy. Besides, the concessions had been provided after clearance by the State Cabinet.

Other tax exemptions provided by the governmentduring the first three quarters of this fiscal include Rs 358 crore VAT exemption on rice, wheat, pulses, and wheat products, Rs 90 crore purchase tax reduction on sugarcane, and Rs 87 crore sales tax exemption on diesel sold to fishermen for fishing activity.

The document also reveals that the banning of extraction in some mines and export of iron ore had checked illegal mining, but at the same time had adversely affected revenue mobilisation in the State.

Collection of royalty on major and minor minerals will fall short by Rs 338 crore during the financial year 2013-14, the MTFP has predicted.

It was anticipated that Rs 1,750 crore could be mobilised through royalty collection, but actuals would be around
Rs 1,412 crore.