Customs officials target Rs 600 crore taxes in five days

Hyderabad: Just over Rs 600 crore in the next five days. This is the target Hyderabad officials of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) are looking at. While larger companies  like Ramky, Gayatri Projects etc. are being summoned by officials for verification of records books, CBEC sources said that most companies were claiming to be cash strapped, complaining that payments from the state government had not been received for most works this financial year.

With just five days left for the financial year to end, CBEC officials are under pressure to reach the targets set by the central government. Specifically, the targets are in tune with the revised Budget Estimates (BE) given out by Union finance minister P. Chidambaram.

The initial target for service tax collections from the entire country was about Rs 1.80 lakh crore which was later revised to Rs 1.65 lakh crore in the BE. The target for Hyderabad district has been set at Rs 3,520 crore but so far only about Rs 2,911 crore has been collected by officials leaving a deficit of more than Rs 600 crore.

Service tax collection target for the entire Telangana zone was set at Rs 5,095 crore with realisations so far standing at Rs 4,464 crore. This means the entire deficit in the Telangana zone is from Hyderabad.

Central excise and customs collections, however, have been satisfactory for the government with receipts exceeding the set targets. Deficits in the tax collection would directly translate to shortfall in the Budget Estimate. This would again lead to widening of the fiscal deficit. Officials are particularly under pressure considering that Mr Chidambaram has been exuding confidence that his Budget Estimate figures would be met without any shortfall.

Several other zones in the country also have a target deficit. Sources said, even some MeeSeva contractors have complained of lack of payments from the state.