Duty collection slumps as Punjab fails to meet target

For a state, which is in a revenue collection overdrive, here's a dampener. The state has registered a huge slump in the stamp and registration duty collection after failing to meet the set targets in the first two quarters of the current financial year (2012-2013).

The decline is being attributed to a slowdown in the real estate sector, recently made evident by the lack of interest in government property auctions as also private housing projects.

According to the information available with The Indian Express, starting from April this year till July 2012, the state managed to earn a little over Rs 1,240 crore from stamp duty and registration fee. In the last fiscal, during the corresponding period, the state had earned more than Rs 1,400 crore.

Compared to the Rs 1,000 crore target for the first quarter of the fiscal, the state earned only Rs 800 crore. Last year in the first quarter, the state had set a target of Rs 805 crore and earned Rs 890 crore.

For the second quarter, the state had set a target of Rs 825 crore, but was able to raise only Rs 221 crore falling short by more than Rs 600 crore. In the corresponding period last year too the state had fell short of the target - earning Rs 257 crore against the target of Rs 700 crore.

Keeping in view the trends, the target for the second quarter is usually kept low as the department does not expect too much revenue. However, the department is keeping its fingers crossed hoping that its collections may go up in the third quarter.

For this financial year, the department has estimated to meet a target of Rs 3,375 crore — the highest ever under this head — but the government may not be able to meet the target. In the past two fiscals, the state has been falling short of its estimated revenue under this head.

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