Source: Times of India

VIJAYAWADA: Former finance minister Buggana Rajendranath has lashed out at the state govt for making false claims about the GST collections growth rate in the state. He said that state govt’s claims demonstrate the extent to which it can stoop to misrepresent a depressing result to make it appear as a stupendous success.

Speaking to media here on Monday, Buggana said that the govt stated that GST revenues projected in the budget for FY 2025-26 at Rs. 27,477.15 crores and the GST revenues for the first four months of current fiscal were Rs. 16,754 crores. “The govt apparently celebrates this extraordinary performance that could demonstrate 61% accomplishment of target for the year insofar as GST revenues are concerned. However, the truth is far away from what govt claims,” said Buggana.

He said that the CAG monthly key indicators convey that the GST revenues for the first 4 months of this financial year are Rs. 16,754.91 crores. However, the CAG report also conveys that this figure includes receipts on account of CGST as part of State’s share in central taxes. This does not reflect the performance of the State. “If Centre’s share is removed, the actual SGST (State GST) revenues received by the State government during the first four months of this financial year is only Rs. 10,769.55 crores,” explained Buggana.

He said that the state govt had actually projected the GST revenues for the current fiscal at Rs. 40,718.12 crores, but not Rs.27477 crore. “Therefore, the % of accomplishment during the first 4 months is only 26.45% (Rs. 10,769.55 crores of Rs. 40,718.12 crores). Going by the budgeted figure, the SGST revenues for the first 4 months in FY 2025-26 should have been Rs. 13,571 crores, against this, the achievement is only Rs. 10,769.55 crores,” said Buggana. He criticised the state govt for shamelessly boasting of achievement despite poor performance.

He said that the SGST revenues during the first four months of this financial year 2025-26 is Rs. 10,769.55 crores is lesser than the SGST revenues during the corresponding period of last financial year which is Rs. 10,868.09 crores. “When we compare the year-on-year performance, the SGST revenues have reported a negative growth of -0.91%,” said Buggana. The CAG figures convey another important aspect, the sales tax revenues, another important indicator of consumption in the State, demonstrated a year-on-year growth of only 0.78%, during the first 4 months of FY 2025-26. Another aspect is that the aggregate of the State’s own tax revenues and non-tax revenues estimated for FY 2025-26 as per budget documents is Rs. 1,27,702.77 crores and as per CAG report, from which state achieved only Rs. 29,511.03 crores, translating to an achievement of only 23.11%.

“Going by the budget figure, the actual State’s own revenue receipt during the first 4 months should have been Rs. 42,563 crores. However, the receipts remained just around Rs. 29,511 crores, which shows poor performance of the state,” said the former finance minister.