By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 2, 2015 :

Odisha government has set an ambitious target of revenue collection of Rs 32,000 crore in this fiscal to stimulate economic growth of the state further.

Beating the slow down and recession in world market, the state’s revenue collection of during 2014-15 has grown by 10.09% over the last fiscal, officials said adding that the state is likely to lose around Rs 3,000 crore due to changes in Center-State funds sharing pattern. The total collection of tax and non-tax revenue during 2014-15 was Rs.27,820 crore.

While central assistance for about 8 schemes has been de-linked, the cost-sharing pattern in about 33 schemes has also been changed.

Deliberating on these issues at a high level meeting chaired by chief secretary, G C Pati on Saturday directed the departments to prepare appropriate strategies for realisation of the target and asked them to take up reform measures like simplification of tax rules, application of IT and reduction in the cost of compliance to tax norms for augmenting revenue collection during 2015-16.

An institutional mechanism will be in place to introduce reforms, undertake regular review of the collection position and suggest necessary measures for further improvement on a regular basis, a press statement issued by the chief secretary’s office said.

The total collection from own tax revenue was around Rs.19,996 crore against the budgetary estimate of Rs.19,862 crore.

Due to close-down of several mines, the royalty from mining decreased to Rs 5308 crore against the target of Rs 6346 crore in 2014-15.

There has been marked growth in State’s Own tax revenue particularly in the areas like land revenue, stamp & registration, state excise, entry tax, profession tax, collection of pending electricity duties and other taxes.

The total collection from own tax revenue has been around Rs.19,996 crore against the budget estimate of Rs 19862 crore. Similarly, revenue collections from non-tax sources like industrial water rate, forest & wild life, irrigation water, departmental receipts, interests and dividends have exceeded the budgeted target.