SHILLONG, July 3: The Covid-19 situation has hit the state’s economy hard with daily wagers being the worst affected.
In their studies on the impact of Covid-19 in the state, Dinesh Bhatia, an associate professor of NEHU, and researcher Monika Bhatia said the arrival of foreign tourists and visits by domestic tourists to the state in 2019 were 0.03 million and 1.25 million respectively.
However, the state was in due course hit hard by the global pandemic which slowed down the pace of economic development and caused loss of livelihood, thereby affecting the vulnerable population that survives by doing odd jobs.
“The effect of the pandemic has been more severe on low-skilled workers. It made them highly vulnerable with loss of jobs and huge financial burden to meet their daily survival needs,” Dinesh said.
According to the researchers, the real estate sector was also severely affected as circle rates for property fell sharply which forced many to sell off property at low prices due to losses.
The ban on rat-hole mining by the National Green Tribunal also reduced revenues by around Rs 700 crore, with losses further enhanced by an overall decline in transportation services.
The researchers said the limestone production in the state in 2020 stood at around 6.9 million tonne compared to 7.2 million tonne in 2019.
The effect of the pandemic was also seen on agribusiness due to shutdown of regular markets for long periods and in the meat, poultry and fish businesses on which a large number of rural population rely on.
The researchers said liquor and tobacco products helped generate revenue after their prices were enhanced by 25-50% post-lockdown in 2020.
In the Power sector, the researchers said the total installed power generation capacity as in February 2021 was 616.03 MW, comprising 354.53 MW from state utilities, 13.92 from private utilities and 247.58 MW from central utilities.
Of the total installed power generation capacity, 409.27 MW was contributed by hydropower, 160.31 MW by thermal power and 46.45 MW by renewable power. The state is now focussed on enhancing the renewable as well as non-renewable sources of energy through the commissioning of new projects and power plants in the near future.
On aerial connectivity, passenger traffic at the newly-commissioned Barapani airport reached 30,552 during 2019-20 and aircraft movement stood at 691 during the same period. It will be further enhanced with the commissioning of new flights and improvement of airport infrastructure under the UDAN scheme.
According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, foreign direct investment inflows to Meghalaya stood at US$ 122 million from April 2000 to September 2019. The total merchandise export from Meghalaya was around US$ 51.09 million in 2019. The same declined and stood at US$ 44.26 million in 2020 due to restrictions imposed during lockdown. The net exports from April to November 2020 reached US$ 3.37 million.
“We can conclude that although there are several challenges due to the ongoing pandemic, yet the opportunities are also immense. A collective effort at all levels is the need of the hour with proper planning, appropriate policies and welfare measures to overcome this economic recession and achieve the goals of sustainable development for the state at large,” Dinesh said.
GST receipts decline
The state’s GST receipts declined in the first quarter (April-June) this year due to the pandemic. As per official documents, the total GST receipt in the first quarter was Rs 123.26 crore.
It was Rs 26.11 crore, including Rs 9.09 crore of SGST, Rs 4.47 crore of IGST monthly settlement and Rs 12.55 crore of GST compensation in April.
In May, the total GST receipt was Rs 29.24 crore. This included Rs 16.70 crore of SGST and Rs 12.54 crore of IGST monthly settlement. The state did not receive any GST compensation from the Centre.
In June, the total GST receipt was Rs 67.91 crore, including Rs 20.84 crore of SGST, Rs 21.84 crore of IGST monthly settlement and GST compensation of Rs 25.23 crore.
The GST receipt during the same period in the 2020-2021 fiscal was Rs 242.97 crore, including GST compensation.
Commissioner of Taxes, Arunkumar Kembhavi attributed the slump to the second wave of the pandemic.
In order to boost GST collection, the Taxation department will soon adopt the tax analytics software, called GST Prime. It will help increase surveillance of all taxpayers.
“We will also be able to plug the leakages and loopholes,” Kembhavi said.
He said despite the pandemic, the department exceeded the expectations and collected more tax in 2020-21 compared to the 2019-20 fiscal.“This year, we will be aiming at registering a healthy growth rate to be able to cross last year’s collections,” Kembhavi added.
