Govt eyes Rs 10,000 cr from Swachh Bharat Cess a year

Government expects to mobilise about Rs 10,000 crore revenue in a full fiscal by levying Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC), Parliament was informed today.

"The government has not fixed any target for SBC during the current and upcoming fiscal years. However, estimated revenue is expected to be approximately Rs 10,000 crore in a full financial year," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Resources generated from the cess will be utilised for financing and promoting initiatives towards Swachh Bharat.

To provide a boost to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the government has imposed SBC of 0.5% on all services liable for service tax, effective November 15, 2015.

Replying to another question, Sinha said the committee on Revisiting and Revitalising the PPP model of infrastructure development was set up in pursuance to Budget announcements 2015, under the chairmanship of Vijay Kelkar.

The committee has submitted an advance copy of the report to the Finance Minister on November 19, he said, adding that the final report is due shortly.

In a separate reply, Sinha said a total of 7,265 wilful defaulters of loan in public sector banks have been declared and out of this, FIRs have been filed in 1,624 cases as on September 30, 2015.

"To address the concerns expressed over the persistence of wilful default in the financial system, the RBI introduced master circular on wilful defaulters, allowing sharing of the information on suit filed cases (above Rs 25 lakh) on the website of four Credit Information Companies," he said.