Odisha looks to extract dues from PSUs to plug revenue gap

Admitting a slump in mining revenue collection and slide in value added tax (VAT) realised from sales of petrol and diesel, the state government is looking to expedite collection of arrears from central and state PSUs to overcome the revenue shortfall and meet budgetary targets for this fiscal.

"The state has witnessed a revenue slowdown in the mining sector. Our VAT collection from petrol and diesel sales is also Rs 200 crore less than the expectations. We are trying to overcome the shortfall and meet the budgeted targets by March this year. The government is making efforts to quicken recovery of arrears from central and state PSUs," finance minister Pradip Amat told reporters after a pre-Budget consultation meeting with stakeholders.

The state Budget for 2015-16 is scheduled to be presented on February 16 during the Budget session of the assembly beginning February 6.

"The schemes announced in the election manifesto would be reflected in the Budget for 2015-16. Our focus would be on strengthening the state's fiscal position. Today, we had a meeting with the different stakeholders. We have taken note of their suggestions", the minister said.

Commercial tax arrears worth Rs 6,200 crore are still to be recovered by the state government. Of the total outstanding amount, central PSUs like Steel Authority of India Ltd, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco), NTPC Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) and Ordinance Factory owe Rs 1,616.03 crore. As many as 281 cases are pending in respect of arrears against the central PSUs.

This apart, electricity duty arrears worth Rs 1,303.51 crore have piled up and the state government is unable to collect them since the cases are locked up in litigations.

R Balakrishnan, additional chief secretary (finance) said, "The stakeholders have given different suggestions including making expenditure outcome oriented. Apart from maximising revenue collection, our focus will be on agriculture and overcoming poverty." The state's revenue collection has been tepid ever since the beginning of this fiscal. Total revenue by the end of October was Rs 13,045.27 crore, representing a mere 2.76 per cent growth over the same period of last fiscal.

As per the projection of the finance department, the revenue collection by the end of March 2015 could be lower by Rs 2,300 crore than the Budget estimate of Rs 25,580 crore for this fiscal.