Delhi govt's revenue in 2010-11 first quarter up by Rs1,000 crore

Cash-strapped Delhi Government can heave a sigh of relief as its tax collection in the first quarter of current fiscal went up by over Rs1,000 crore compared to the corresponding period last year.

As per official data, the government collected a total revenue of Rs4,097 crore in the first quarter of 2010-11, which is a jump of 33.75% compared to Rs3,063 crore in the same period in 2009-10.

The coffers of Delhi government were dwindling as it undertook projects worth over Rs10,000 crore to improve infrastructure in the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

Expressing satisfaction, finance minister AK Walia said the increase in revenue collection will help the government tide over the "difficulties" to a great extent.

The city Government, in its budget, had estimated to collect a total of Rs15,582 crore from tax revenue in the financial year 2010-11 and officials in Finance department now said they were confident of collecting more than the projected amount.

"We have collected Rs532 crore from stamps and registration fees in the first quarter itself against the projected collection of Rs1,060 crore for the entire year in the budget.

We are confident of surpassing the total estimated tax collection of Rs15,582 crore in 2010-11," said a senior official.

The total collection from stamp and registration fee in the first quarter of 2009-10 was Rs202.94 crore. The collection from VAT jumped to Rs2,871.99 crore from Rs2,314.12 crore in the first quarter of last fiscal.

The revenue generation from excise tax, entertainment tax and luxury tax also rose significantly in the first quarter of 2010-11.

The city government was going through financial difficulties especially after the Centre substantially curtailed its allocation in this year's Union Budget.

The Delhi Government was allocated a meagre Rs50 crore for projects linked to the Games against its demand for a special assistance of Rs2,000 crore.

The economic slowdown had a severe impact on city government's finances in 2009-10 as tax collection had fallen by over Rs1,300 crore against the targeted amount.

In the budget, government had estimated to collect Rs1,060 crore from stamps and registration fees, Rs12,000 crore from VAT, Rs1680 crore from excise tax, Rs500 crore from taxes on motor vehicles and Rs342 crore from luxury tax, entertainment tax and betting tax.