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The state government's revenue growth in the April-September period of 2014-15 remained flat as mining revenue, the single biggest contributor to the non-tax revenue basket, shrank 20.62 per cent.
Mining revenue by September end stood at Rs 2049.99 crore against a collection of Rs 2582.46 crore in the same period last year. The downtrend in mining revenue has cast doubts on the achievement of Budgetary target of Rs 6346.98 crore from the sector.
“Mining revenue is unlikely to pick up unless the iron ore and manganese mines which are under suspension after a Supreme Court order, resume operations”, said an officer of the finance department.
In its May 16 interim order, the Supreme Court had directed closure of 26 iron ore and manganese mines awaiting second and subsequent renewal that were operating under the deemed lease extension provision of Mineral Concession Rule (MCR), 1960.
The court order had snapped supplies of high grade iron ore to the tune of 40 million tonne, leaving steel makers in the lurch.
Later, the state government had enabled eight of these mines to restart operation by passing an express order to that effect, but similar orders for the balance 18 mines are still awaited.
Due to fall in mining revenue collection, the state's overall revenue has increased only by 2.12 per cent, from Rs 10295.91 crore to Rs 10513.73 crore.The deceleration in mining revenue has particularly impacted collection in non-tax revenue category, where revenue plunged 17.43 per cent to Rs 2673.99 crore from Rs 3238.34 crore in the year-ago period. The other non-tax revenue segments with noticeable slide in collection are education (59.14 per cent), major irrigation (39.14 per cent) and minor irrigation (17.19 per cent).
The state's own tax revenue, during April-September, moved up from Rs 7057.57 crore to Rs 7839.74 crore, posting 11.08 per cent growth. Segments in this basket mostly consist of professional tax, land revenue, taxes on vehicles, entry tax and taxes and duties on electricity.
State excise jumped 28 per cent to Rs 926.77 crore from Rs 722.44 crore. Taxes on vehicles also rose 27.05 per cent from Rs 304.17 crore to Rs 386.44 crore in the period under review.
In its Budget for2014-15, the state government has set an overall revenue target of Rs 25093.87 crore. By September-end, only 37.70 per cent of the target has been achieved.
