Amid concerns that tax collections may fall short of the target, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said non-tax revenue receipts so far in the current financial year have been broadly in line with the targets set in the revised estimates (RE).
“The ministry has been regularly following up with the administrative ministries/departments on the collection of non-tax revenue,” Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
Further, several measures have also been taken for the realisation of the arrears of non-tax revenue, payment of outstanding dues against the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces in various states, revision of user charges and recovery of interest/other earnings on unspent balances lying with the implementing agencies of government schemes, she added.
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Officials are confident that the government would be able to meet Rs 2.62 trillion non-tax revenue target as per FY23RE, which was marginally lower than Rs 2.69 trillion set in the Budget estimate (BE).
Following the about Rs 30,000 crore shortfall in dividend/surplus receipts from the Reserve Bank of India
Higher dividends by CPSEs could act as a buffer for the government if it falls short of meeting the revised disinvestment target of Rs 50,000 crore for the current financial year. Dividend receipts stood at Rs 51,170 crore so far, Rs 8,170 crore more than FY23RE of Rs 43,000 crore. So far, disinvestment receipts stood at Rs 31,107 crore or 62% of the FY23 target.
It is likely that the tax collections, net of transfers to the state, may fall slightly short of the RE of Rs 20.87 trillion in FY23, primarily due to a moderation in corporate tax receipts.
However, the Centre will likely contain the fiscal deficit at the budgeted level of 6.4% of GDP in the current fiscal. Till March 5, the Centre has released Rs 3.1 trillion to states, or about 70% of the centrally sponsored schemes (CSSs) outlay for FY23. Of the Rs 3.1 trillion released, Rs 1.75 trillion or more than 56% were still lying with the Single Nodal Agencies (SNAs) of states for implementation of the CSSs.
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Additionally, about Rs 40,000 crore is lying idle with the state treasuries from previous year releases of the Centre for such schemes (pre-FY23 releases). The Centre will unlikely release more CSS funds to states in March unless they spend the balance lying with SNAs or their treasuries, another official said.