Mobilisation from revenue arrears hits Rs 779 crore

NEW DELHI: Arrears collection by the revenue department has gone up. Facing a target of Rs 2,450 crore during ’06-07 in terms of excise, customs and service tax arrears, the department has collected Rs 778.9crore till July. The department witnessed a six-fold growth in the recovery of service tax arrears.

It collected Rs 255 crore in April-July ’06 against Rs 38 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal. This is almost 51% of the Rs 500-crore target set for service tax arrears.

Central excise arrears collection increased by 50% from Rs 223.7 crore in April-July ’05-06 to Rs 335.5 crore in the same period of the current fiscal. This is 25.8% of the total target of Rs 1,300 crore set for the year.

In the case of excise, recovery from various zones in the country has been a major contributor rather than the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, which monitors evasion of these levies at the central level.

In the case of customs, recovery was Rs 188.4 crore in the first four months of the current fiscal against Rs 108 crore in corresponding period in ’05-06, recording a growth of 74%. The department managed to collect 29% of the total annual arrears recovery target of Rs 650 crore.

The total central plan outlay is pegged at Rs 2,54,401 crore, which is Rs 49,063 crore more than last fiscal.