HYDERABAD: Registering a massive growth in tax collections, the AP government earned a record Rs 4,507 crore revenue during July . This is the highest monthly earning reported by AP after the state bifurcation.

During the last 14 months, the state has been reporting a modest tax income of about Rs 3,400 crore a month. Improved commercial tax collection has spurred the overall tax revenues of the state. AP is now, the fastest growing economy among the southern states.

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The value added tax (VAT) collection hit an all-time high of Rs 2,490 crore in July, which is the highest ever tax collected in the state. The commercial tax collection registered a whopping 15.63% growth, catapulting AP to the top slot among all the other southern states. TN reported 2.29% growth, Telangana 6.03%, Maharashtra 0.96% and Karnataka 9.79% growth in tax collections during the current financial year.

“Leakage in tax collection was plugged and inter-state check posts were modernized and linked with the central monitoring system that has paid dividends. Tax collections have crossed our targets,” said a senior official in the revenue department.

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Interestingly, other tax collections, including transport, mines, stamps and registrations, also showed a healthy growth in July. Stamps and registrations wing earned Rs 450 crore, transport Rs 175 crore and mines Rs 150 crore even as other states struggled to maintain the tempo.

Surge in commercial tax collections indicate that more commercial establishments opened their branches in AP, which earlier had their headquarters in Hyderabad. Post bifurcation, many industrial, pharma, cement, ceramic, poultry, textile, tobacco and petroleum units, have opened new offices in the Andhra region to save multiple tax.

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