Hyderabad tax collection takes a dip amdist pandemic

Hyderabad:As the Covid-19 pandemic drags on and businesses are struggling to come out of massive losses, the overall tax collections up to October 17 for 2020-21 stood at about  Rs 3.7 lakh crore against Rs 4.98 lakh crore during the same period in the last financial year.

Though the overall growth was on the downside at minus-25.7 per cent, the income-tax department considered it a “decent performance” given the conditions. Till August 10 this year, the total net collections were a little over Rs 1.89 lakh crore.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had set a target of Rs 13.19 lakh crore for the I-T department for 2020-21. While a slight increase in collections between August 10 and October 17 came as a relief for tax officials, not much improvement is expected this financial year. It remains to be seen whether the I-T department is able to achieve the target or come close to it, with only five months left for the end of the financial year on March 31.

According to the latest figures, accessed by Deccan Chronicle, the net collection from India’s financial capital Mumbai stood at about Rs 1.17 lakh crore while the figure during the same period in the last financial year was over Rs 1.51 lakh crore. The growth dipped -23 per cent. Of the total collection, the corporate tax was Rs 64,499.9 crore and I-T Rs 43,649.3 crore.

In the Delhi I-T region, the net collection stood at Rs 47,636.4 crore (last year Rs 74,366.6 crore). Growth was down -35.9 per cent.

The Bengaluru I-T region fared well as net collections stood at Rs 52,214.9 crore against Rs 51,749 crore last year, recording a growth of 0.9 per cent. The corporate tax collected was Rs 23,242.7 crore and I-T Rs 28,611.2 crore. Karnataka was among the states which had eased the lockdown earlier than others.

In the Hyderabad I-T region, which comprises Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh, the net collection was Rs 20,943 crore (Rs 27,592 crore last year), down -24.1 per cent. Corporate tax was at Rs 8,535.4 crore and I-T Rs 12,183.6 crore. The target for the Hyderabad region was Rs 73,809 crore.

“I-T collections are encouraging given the pandemic and unlocking of establishments, albeit slowly, though many businessmen have been complaining that the lockdown has broken the back of their businesses. We are hoping to step up tax collections in the next few months,” sources said.

As for the Chennai I-T region, the net collection was Rs 22,539.3 crore (Rs 35,896.7 crore last year) and growth went down -37.2 per cent. Corporate tax collected was Rs 10,105 crore and I-T Rs 12,438.1 crore.