IEP Chandigarh, July 6
Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said that the strenuous efforts of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government to increase its own revenue have borne fruitful results as the state gained a substantial increase of 79 percent, and 27.87 percent in the Excise and Good & Services Tax (GST) revenue respectively during June 2023 as compared to June 2022. He said that the current state government has broken its own records by registering a 29.66 percent increase in revenue collection from Excise, GST, VAT, CST & PSDT during the month of June this year, and an aggregate increase of 25 percent during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24 as compared to the same period of FY 2022-23. Disclosing this in a press communique issued here, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the total revenue from Excise during June 2023 was 663.97 crores as against the Excise collection of Rs. 370.93 crores during June last year, registering a significant increase of Rs 293.04 crores. He said that the revenue from GST has also reflected an increase of Rs 338. 42 crores with GST collection of 1552.66 crores in June 2023 as against a collection of Rs 1214.24 crores in June 2022. Revealing further, the Punjab Finance Minister said that the total revenue from Excise, GST, VAT, CST & PSDT during June 2023 was Rs. 2869.46 crores as against Rs. 2213.13 cores during June 2022, registering an increase of Rs. 656.33 crores. He said the revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) also showed an increase of 3.9 percent in June 2023 with VAT collection of Rs 616.94 crores in June 2023 as against VAT collection of 593.79 crores in June 2022. “Similarly, the Central Sales Tax (CST) collection registers 8.04 percent growth in June this year as compared to June 2022”, he added. Expressing happiness over Punjab’s continuous stability on the growth trajectory, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the state has not only shown growth during the month of June this year but also registered an increase of Rs 1848.66 cores in revenue from Excise, GST, VAT, CST & PSDT during the first quarter of FY 2023-24. He said that the total revenue collection during the first quarter of FY 2023-24 was Rs. 9243.99 crores as against Rs. 7395.33 crores during the first three months of FY 2022-23. “During the first quarter of 2023-24 the Excise revenue reflects a growth of 55.65 percent and revenue from GST an increase of 24.76 percent”, said Harpal Singh Cheema. Lauding the performance of the Excise and Taxation department, the Finance Minister said that these growth figures reflected the dedication and efficiency of the officials and employees of these departments and congratulated them for the same. He reiterated that the Punjab government is committed to providing these departments with the latest technologies and equipment to crack down on tax evaders while providing every support to honest taxpayers.
