Largesse for three top agro companies costs state another Rs 18 cr

In a state where every penny counts, there has been a slip of nearly Rs 40 crore this year in the revenue of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), the nodal agency for executing state’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.

Infrastructure cess on crops is the main source of revenue for the PIDB. However, the Excise and Taxation Department has been consistently falling short of the corresponding collections of the Punjab Mandi Board since the last few years.

While state’s value-added tax (VAT) collections are likely to touch Rs 7,000 crore this year (the Excise and Taxation Department collects four per cent VAT on crops) and an unprecedented Rs 1,136 crore were collected as four per cent market fee and four per cent for Rural Development Fund (RDF), the good harvests and crop prices have not reflected on resources of cash-starved PIDB.

The Finance Department is now considering the possibility of passing on the responsibility of infrastructure cess collection from the Taxation Department to the Mandi Board, which has been collecting higher corresponding amount from dealers as market fee and RDF.

A meeting of Excise and Taxation Department and Mandi Board officials was held last week under Principal Secretary, Finance, SC Aggarwal. “The government is examining various options and a decision will be taken after weighing the merits of the proposal,” Aggarwal said.

According to Mandi Board secretary AS Miglani, the transfer of responsibility will require amendment to the Punjab Agriculture Produce Markets (APMC) Act, which governs the functioning of the Mandi Board.

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