SHILLONG: in its bid to improve the revenue mobilization by the state Excise department, the Meghalaya Cabinet on Thursday brought about amendments in the Excise rule under which bonds are to give pre-paid excise duties.
Speaking to media persons after discussing on the matter for the second day in a row in the Cabinet, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said that with this move, the Government would be able to generate additional revenue of at least fifteen to twenty per cent.
During the meeting, the Rule 3 and Sub-rule 2 were changed and now bonds will have to pay the excise duties while buying it from the companies instead of paying the excise duties while selling it to the retailers”.
“We have amended the rules and made it mandatory for the bonds to give pre-paid excise duties which means the bond will now pay the excise duties while they purchase from the companies and it will not be at the point of exit where the fees will be charged,” he added.
The Chief Minister also informed that the cabinet also decided to impose simple fees which will be given by the retail shop when they will take the items from the bond.
Earlier the retailers used to register and pay the ad-valorem and take the challans and now the Government has included a mechanisim called the retail lifting fees which is just two rupees per case which is meant to at least have on record the challans while the retail shops will buy from the bond”.
“ It will be just two rupees per case but will be around Rs 60-70 lakh of revenue for us,” he added.
The cabinet also decided to put fees on the liquor brought in by the military and the para military units to the state and now the Cabinet has decided that 40 per cent ad-valorem would be levied on the lifting of the IMLF by the paramilitary forces.
The Excise department generated revenue of about Rs 227 crores last year and the target for this year was Rs 250 crore with the state Government hoping for another 15 – 20 per cent additional income from here at least for this year.
Stating that the state is banking on technology to check the revenue leakages and has already introduced QR codes in the Forest department which has made it almost next to impossible to duplicate the challans, the Chief Minister added that once transportation and coal mining starts the QR codes would ensure that the leakages were plucked and the revenue of the state grew.
Stating that this decision is in continuation with the government’s endeavour to ensure that the overall revenue of the state goes up, Sangma said, “The government is taking a number of steps to do that. We are ensuring that policy changes and technology intervention are there so that the overall revenue of the state goes up”.