Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: The state government today claimed that the revenue generation had gone up, compared to the previous years, despite a slowdown in mining activities in Odisha.

"A sum of Rs 10,763.89 crore has been collected by August this year from tax and non-tax revenue as against the estimate of Rs 33,022.93 crore for the current fiscal," finance minister Pradip Amat told the Assembly today.

Official sources said the revenue collection position was encouraging this year and it was expected to exceed the target.

The finance minister said that during 2015-16 the revenue collection from Odisha's own tax and non-tax sources was 3 per cent higher than the budgeted estimate of Rs 30,293.93 crore. During the previous year (2014-15), the state had managed to just fulfil the target of Rs 27,886.65 crore.

Utkal Chambers and Industries (UCCI) chairman Ramesh Chandra Mohapatra, however, said that though the rising trend of revenue collection was a solace, but the meagre rate of growth (3 per cent) was not a reason to cheer with. "However, the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will definitely benefit consuming states such as Odisha," said Mohapatra.

The GST Bill has already received presidential assent after it was passed in both the Houses of Parliament and ratified by most of the states, including Odisha. The GST Act was expected to be implemented by April next year.

Mandarins of the state finance department expect that Odisha would get benefits with implementation of the GST. The state has already asked the Centre to compensate it for Central Sales Tax (CST) loss. "We have claimed Rs 2,755.36 crore towards the CST compensation for the loss on account of its reduction from 4 per cent to 2 per cent," said a finance department official.

Besides, Odisha has demanded that at least 60 per cent of the proceeds of the cess on coal be shared with coal-bearing states.

Earlier, Odisha had reeled from financial crisis during the past couple of years because of large-scale closure of mines following a multi-crore scam that the state vigilance department as well as the Justice MB Shah Commission probed.

Finance department officials admitted that the shutdown of mines has had a cascading effect on the economy as it also hit allied sectors such as transport.

However, much to the relief of the state government while the process of auctioning virgin mines has begun, the operation of 54 out of 102 closed but operable mines has also commenced.

A steel and mines department official said: "During the current financial year, we have a target of collecting revenue worth Rs 6,500 crore. But, we may fall short of target."

Amat said: "The dip in earnings from the mining sector remains a cause for worry. It had a cascading effect on other sectors. We have tried to make it up with collections from other sources. Now with the mines opening up again, we are hopeful of state's financial condition improving."

Listing out measures initiated to augment the revenue generation, Amat said the state government had revised electricity duty, as a result of which, the electricity duty has gone up by 38.66 per cent by August over the corresponding period of the previous year. Steps were being taken to revise the motor vehicle tax rate. Besides, measures were being initiated to expedite the recovery of revenue to the tune of Rs 2,754 crore locked in various court cases in 2015-16 by ensuring speedy trial or through out of court settlements.