Good Job Odisha: State’s Revenue Earning Jumps By 112.5%

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has registered an impressive increase of 112.56% in revenue income in the first quarter of this fiscal year despite COVID-induced adversities like the shutdowns and lockdown.

According to Principal Secretary of Finance Ashok Meena, the state’s revenue generation had jumped to Rs 17,656.7 crore by June-end as against Rs 8,307.54 crore during the same period last year.

Besides, earnings from own-tax sources registered a 74.66% growth to Rs 8,036 crore. The collection was Rs 4,601 crore during the same period last fiscal year, the secretary said.

The non-tax revenue showed the highest jump of 159.55%, thanks to improved collection of royalty from the mining sector. The earning from this segment was Rs 9,621.16 crore till June this year. The figure was Rs 3,705.54 crore in June 2020.

Meena informed this at a meeting of all secretaries chaired by Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

He further said due to the pace of revenue generation, there has been significant growth in budget utilisation in the state.

The overall percentage of the budget utilisation by June-end grew to 21% (Rs 12,864 crore) as compared to that of around 17% (Rs 9,873 crore) during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

On his part, the Chief Secretary proposed the preparation of an online public register on government assets. The digital register should focus on the management and maintenance of government assets under different departments, Mahapatra said.

Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena suggested that all the departments should name a senior officer who will coordinate with Odisha Space Application Centre for preparing the register.