The Hindu Business Line : Mercedes, JCB India fill in excise revenue shortfall

For the year ended March 31, 2008, excise collections in the Pune I excise commissionerate, under which the Pimpri Chinchwad area comes, accounted for over 40 per cent of the total Pune zone net realisations of Rs 4,315.80 crore.

Alka Kshirsagar

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Pune, May 16 Excise realisations from the big two — Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto — in the Pimpri Chinchwad industrial region dropped considerably during 2007-08 compared to the previous fiscal, but newer players like Mercedes Benz and JCB India Ltd have helped soften what might have otherwise been a Rs 200-crore loss in revenues.

In the 2007-08 fiscal, Tata Motors, the highest contributor to the excise kitty, paid over 21 per cent less net excise. In cash terms, that translates to Rs 560 crore against Rs 710 crore during 2006-07. The second hit to the excise top line came from Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) which moved out production from its Akurdi facility in September last year.

Hence, the company paid a mere Rs 24 lakh on account of this plant, while the motorcycle facility at Chakan shelled out Rs 15.5 crore. The total amount paid by BAL during 2006-07 was nearly six times as much at Rs 90 crore (including Rs 24 crore from Akurdi).

Cash realisation

According to a source in the department of Central Excise and Customs, in this particular commissionerate, cash (PLA) realisations have been dropping steadily over the last two years. During the 2007-08 fiscal, they were Rs 1,759.15 crore, which is nearly 7 per cent lower than Rs 1,883.65 crore in 2006-07 and a considerable 13 per cent lower than the Rs 2,026.11 crore mopped up during 2005-06.

This time, the impact of what would have been a drop of over Rs 200 crore in revenue from the most remunerative of the Pune zone commissionerates, has, however, been softened by some newer entrants. Luxury car maker, Mercedez Benz, whose products are much costlier and also attract a higher rate of duty, paid up around Rs 88 crore, nearly Rs 30 crore above the Rs 58 crore during 2006-07. And construction equipment maker JCB India, whose contribution was negligible in the earlier year, paid up Rs 40 crore.

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It was the only one (of four) in the zone with a negative growth in terms of net revenue growth. Gross growth (PLA+Cenvat), however, was 8.29 per cent up, the figures indicate, suggesting that industrial growth here is not in negative territory.

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