Lock down Hits Revenue of Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Covid-19 outbreak has caused a severe disruption in the state’s revenue base as there has been a sharp fall in the collection of revenue from the month of April. As The overall revenue collection from different sectors in May was collected around Rs 1,700 crore only where as Rs 3,600 crore was collected in the corresponding last year.

This sharp fall in tax receipts has become a cause of concern for the state government in meeting the budget expenditure for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

As the tax collection of the state in April and may is very low as compared to the collection during April & may last year, it has become a cause of concern. The state has to depend more on borrowing to spend the money according to the budget.

As sale of liquor has been allowed through home delivery, the state government is hopeful of a slight improvement in the collection of excise revenue in June.

Even as the Union finance ministry has decided not to launch any new schemes except the ones announced under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat package, state government has not yet been discussed so far whether to launch new schemes or not due to fall in revenue.