India Ratings puts April revenue loss for 21 states at ₹97,100 crore

New Delhi: Twenty one major states could be staring at a collective revenue loss of ₹97,100 crore in April alone, according to a report by India Ratings (Ind-Ra) released on Wednesday. The disruption to the economy was so swift and severe that even if the lockdown was lifted in mid-May, economic normalcy would be unlikely until the second quarter of the fiscal, the report added.

“Under the current circumstances there is a fair amount of uncertainty regarding the quantum and timings of the state governments’ receivables from the union government. Moreover, their own sources of revenue have fallen to abysmally low levels,” the report by Anuradha Basumatari, associate director at Ind-Ra, said.

According to the paper, states’ own revenue mainly comes from seven heads – state goods and services tax (SGST), state VAT (mainly petroleum products), state excise (mainly liquor), stamps and registration fees, tax on vehicle, tax and duty on electricity and own non-tax revenue. States which have a high share of own revenue in their total revenue, such as Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, TN, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala with 65%-76% would be the worst affected, according to Ind-Ra.— Our Bureau