The Hindu : I-T collections in State up by 42 per cent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

I-T collections in State up by 42 per cent

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 21. The much talked of "Feel good factor" has rubbed off on the Income Tax Department, which has come out with impressive growth figures for tax collection in Andhra Pradesh region, which stood at Rs. 2,521 crores up to December 31, reflecting a 42 per cent growth, as against a national average of 23 per cent.

Announcing the details at a press conference here on Wednesday, P.A. Chowdary, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax-1, Hyderabad, said given the buoyancy, the department was confident of exceeding the target of Rs. 3,438 crores for March 2004, and in fact hopeful of touching the Rs. 4,000-crore mark. Growth in corporate tax collections was an impressive 59 per cent taking it to Rs. 1,179 crores and income tax collections at 30 per cent to Rs. 1,342 crores.

The number of assessees also increased substantially over the last five to six years. From 9.53 lakh assessees in 1999-2000, it has risen to 17.85 lakhs in December 2003, showing a growth rate of 87 per cent, he said.

Commenting on reasons for such high growth rates being recorded this year he observed "Andhra Pradesh economy is doing well, and a large number of companies are paying well. In general southern states are doing well. Now-a-days, emphasis is on voluntary compliance also." Andhra Pradesh stands 2nd in terms of growth, next to Bangalore. In absolute terms however big centres like Mumbai and Delhi continue to dominate. In the past Andhra Pradesh has had a fluctuating growth rate from a high of 37 per cent in 2000-2001 to a low of just 4 per cent in 2001-2002.

He said the State Bank of Hyderabad and Andhra Bank's tax remittances this year were projected at Rs. 270 crores and Rs. 200 crores respectively. Similarly the figure was Rs.170 crores for NMDC and Rs.117 crores for Singareni Collieries. There was no pendency of PAN applications (Permanent Account Numbers).

The department received 13.92 lakh application forms and all have been allotted numbers, and only 15,308 were yet to be issued the PAN cards. Those who have not received the PAN, can contact the concerned officer first, and if necessary the higher ups in the I-T department, he said.

On electronic filing of I-T returns through intermediaries like banks, he said only 109 have availed of the facility made available this year. It was mainly aimed at the salaried people.

He said AP also stood first in implementing the scheme of processing I-T returns within four months of filing, and issue of all refunds within this period.

He said of the 1.87 lakh salary returns, there were 37,121 refund claims, of which 31,419 had been cleared till October.

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