Odisha asks Vizag port to give export, import details of last 6 years

The Odisha government has asked the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) authorities to provide transaction details of goods shipped out and imported into state through this port for the period of 2006-07 to 2012-13 for cross verification.

The move could impact many iron ore miners as they export the commodity via the Andhra Pradesh based port.

Many dealers of Odisha import and export goods through Visakhapatnam along with local port Paradip.

The government said, it requires those details to ascertain the correctness of the returns filed by the dealers.

"It is now required to cross verify these transactions of import & export with their corresponding turn over disclosed in returns during the financial years 2006-07 to 2012-13 to ascertain the correctness of said transactions involving right tax compliance in the interest of government revenue," the commercial tax commissioner of Odisha said in a letter to VPT.
 

Odisha miners prefer to export iron ore produced in the state via Paradip port. However, due to space constraint, they also send the material through Visakhapatnam port and sometimes via Haldia port in neighbouring West Bengal.

In 2010-11, shipments of iron ore originating from Odisha through Vishakhapatnam were 1.18 million tonne, compared with 13.5 million tonne through Paradip. Though official data of previous years are not available, trade sources said, exports of Odisha origin mineral via Visakhapatnam could be as high as 2.3 million tonne in 2008-09 period.

To curb illegal and rampant export via the out-of-state port, the state government in 2011 had imposed restrictions on truck transportation of iron ore to Vishakhapatnam and allowed only train transportation to keep track of mineral movement. However, the restriction was lifted in September last year, after frequent petition by miners and export traders.

The recent attempt of the state government to cross verify mineral transaction reports at mines pit head and at shipment point follows large scale violation by the miners. The government believes the traders might have shown lower volume or prices of the minerals at the time of transactions while actually the mineral was being transported for export purpose. The state charges 10 per of selling prices of iron ore as royalty, which is the single biggest contributor to its non-tax revenue. By cross-verifying the data provided by VPT, the Odisha government believes it could detect some discrepancies and might get a few hundred crore rupees as penalty, said an official source. "Your effort in the matter will be highly effective in collection of government revenue," the commercial tax commissioner said to the VPT authorities.