• Notification Date: 07-03-2024
• Notification No: N/A

Delhi Govt to Strengthen GST Admin making it Faceless

The Delhi government will strengthen its Goods and Services Tax administration, making it faceless to boost revenue, Finance Minister Atishi said while presenting the annual budget 2024-25, envisaging Rs 76,000 crore outlay on Monday.

The government will source Rs 41,000 crore through Goods and Services Tax (GST) and VAT, which will be 70 per cent of the total tax revenue of Rs 58,750 crore estimated in budget 2024-25.

In fiscal 2023-24, the GST and value-added Tax (VAT) collections until January 2024 witnessed a growth of 13.96 per cent year-on-year to Rs 31,445 crore, Atishi said.

"Now, the next step of the Kejriwal government is to make the IT infrastructure of GST state-of-the-art and the entire GST Tax Administration faceless," the finance minister said.

The Delhi government is working on data analytics and automation software in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad. This will help in tracking, monitoring and simplifying the refund process through artificial intelligence and data analytics, besides reducing processing time and errors in files, she said.

The budget estimates of Rs 76,000 crore for 2024-25 was 3.7 per cent less than Rs 78,800 crore in 2023-24. However, it was 1.47 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 74,900 crore in 2023-24.

"The budget estimate was a bit higher last year. But, the final (revised) estimate is 74,900 crore for 2023-24, which has been enhanced by Rs 1,100 crore to estimate the budget 2024-25," Atishi said in a press conference, pointing that the GST compensation of Delhi stopped in the last two years.

There is no other state in the country, which has not taken a loan to manage its budget deficit after scrapping GST compensation. The Delhi government is the only government that honestly raises its own resources and still remains fiscal surplus despite providing free-of-cost facilities like electricity, water and bus rides to women, she said.

The finance minister said there are a total of 7.88 lakh GST taxpayers in Delhi, out of which 4.82 lakh taxpayers come under the jurisdiction of the Delhi government. The remaining 3.06 lakh taxpayers come under the central government.

Through 167 special audits this year, a total tax deficiency of Rs 5,321 crore has been detected. On the basis of this ground intelligence, the Kejriwal government has also taken strict action against fake traders.

According to intelligence reports, by doing field verification, the government suspended a total of 2,911 fake firms and detected tax evasion of Rs 1,316 crore.

The budget estimates for 2024-25 peg the state excise revenue at Rs 6,400 crore, which is 11 per cent of the total tax revenue. Other major components of tax revenue include stamps and registration -- Rs 7,750 crore (13 per cent) and taxes on motor vehicles -- Rs 3,600 crore (6 per cent) of the total tax revenue receipts.

The Delhi government is committed to increasing excise revenue effectively.

It is committed to putting a stop to illegal liquor trade and quality control of liquor in the city through measures like Faceless Enforcement and strengthening the Excise Intelligence Bureau, she said.

The vehicle tax collection in 2023-24 (till January 2024) stood at Rs 2,687.98 crore, with an increase of 11.88 per cent compared to the previous year (till January 2023), while the tax collection of stamp and registration fees (including land revenue) stood at Rs 5,797 crore (till January 2024), an increase of 16.81 per cent year-on-year (till January 2023), the minister said.

Highlighting the economic situation of Delhi, she said that Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has grown at a rate of 9.17 per cent in 2023-24, which is an increase from the previous fiscal's Rs 10.15 lakh crore to an estimated Rs 11.08 lakh crores this year.

The per capita income in Delhi has increased to Rs 4.62 lakh in 2023-24 at current prices from Rs 2.47 lakh in 2014-15, which is approximately 2.5 times higher than the national average, said the minister.