Key revenue sources to fall short by 34%: Karnataka govt data

The key revenue generating sources for the government, save Excise Department, are projected to fall woefully short of their targets this fiscal.

According to the state government, Commercial Tax, Transport, and Stamps and Registration Departments will fall short of the targets set in the budget by 30% or more.

Grant-in-aid by the Centre will also be 45% less. The Centre will release Rs 17,372 crore against a budgetary estimate of Rs 31,570 crore.

In the difficult months ahead, which include revenue losses caused by GST compensation from Centre - both during this fiscal and in the coming years - the government has decided to rely on its own sources of revenue.

Of the 2020-21 budget estimate of Rs 1,11,991 crore, revised projections by the Finance Department show that the government will shore up only Rs 78,299 crore on its own.

The worst affected in terms of percentage is the Transport Department, which is projected to collect Rs 3,460 crore against a target of Rs 7,115 crore - only 48% of its target. Revenue from Commercial Tax department will be Rs 21,094 crore less than the Rs 66,327 crore estimated for the fiscal.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s reply to former Congress minister Krishna Byre Gowda’s question in the Legislative Assembly also quantified the extent of revenue loss for state’s non-tax revenue. Against a projection of Rs 7,767 crore, the state will raise only Rs 3,969 crore - 51% of the target.

Karnataka will receive around half the GST compensation announced in the budget, which is about Rs 15,017 crore against a projection of Rs 28,591 crore.

Yediyurappa said that the state government will rely on its own sources of revenue to make up for the loss of GST compensation that may stop in two years. “The government will have to increase its own SGST, excise, stamps and registration, motor vehicle tax and other non-tax revenue collections to balance the financial condition,” he said in reply to another question by senior Congress leader R V Deshpande.