Excise department plans to target steel, hosiery industries

Ludhiana, June 28 The state Excise and Taxation department will have to work hard this year to meet its target of Rs 7,000 crore for this financial year. The target is 25% ahead of last year’s tax collection, which was Rs 5,800 crore. The officers have been told to focus more on steel, hosiery, sanitary ware, marble and plywood industry. “These sectors indulge in tax evasion. We can grow up to 40% in these areas,” said A Venuprasad, Chief Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Department. He was in the city to attend a review meeting of the officers of the department.

He added, “Last year, we registered a growth of about 15%. Punjab has a huge potential to generate revenue for the department, especially hosiery, iron and steel industry. This needs to be tapped.”

To further facilitate the tax payers, the department will soon introduce the facility of e-payment whereby a person will be able to give his VAT payment while sitting at home, he added. He said, “Though we had introduced e-filing scheme in the last financial year, we did get encouraging response. We want to make it more popular.” Meanwhile, the department is still not clear as whether the Dhaba Tax and tax on embroidered cloth has to be levied or not.Chief Commissioner said, “ We will decide about this after the election code of conduct is over.”