Delhi govt's VAT collection surges by 14 per cent

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The Delhi government has collected Rs 11,283 crore from Value Added Tax between April and January in the current fiscal, registering a growth of 14 per cent over the corresponding period of 2010-11.

The government, in its budget, had estimated collection of a total of Rs 14,500 crore from VAT 2011-12 and officials in Finance Department said they were confident of procuring the projected amount by end of this month.

The share of VAT was estimated at 77.82 per cent of the total projected revenue collection of Rs 20,246 crore in the financial year 2011-12.

"We have collected Rs 11,283.78 crore from VAT from April 1 to January 31 against collection of Rs 9,700 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal," said a senior official of the Finance Department. VAT had fetched the city government Rs 12,068 crore in 2010-11 while in 2009-10 the collection was Rs 10,126 crore.

The tax was introduced in the city on April one, 2005 and from that year onwards the revenue collection of Delhi government has witnessed marked improvement.

Following its introduction, the revenue collection in the fiscal 2005-06 went up to Rs 6,499 crore from Rs 5,199.76 crore in 2004-05, registering a growth of 25 per cent.

The total tax collection further improved to Rs 7,365 crore in the fiscal 2006-07 and it reached Rs 8493 crore in the next year, registering an annual growth of 15.32 per cent.

In 2008-09, the city government mopped up a total VAT of Rs 9,669.55 crore. The government has also collected over Rs 15 crore as penalty from various VAT tax evaders between April to December this fiscal against around Rs 3.5 crore in the corresponding period of 2010-11.