To increase the revenue generated from GST, Delhi government's tax mainstay, the trade and taxes department has started anti-evasion activities through surveys, inspection, and search and seizure.

A Delhi government official said special teams had been activated on state borders to check unauthorised entry of vehicles and impound them if they were found violating GST provisions while various analytical tools were being employed to check evasion and increase tax collection.

Goods and services tax (GST) and value-added tax (VAT) contribute nearly 70% to the total revenue collected by Delhi government through various cess and duties. Till February 28 in the 2022-23 fiscal, the government ramped up Rs 30,284 crore through them, which was nearly 24% higher than the collection during the same period in 2021-22. With the termination of the GST compensation programme in June 2022 and Delhi government expecting an annual revenue loss of nearly Rs 12,000 crore, officials said efforts were being made to increase the collection through GST and VAT.

The government has estimated that it will earn Rs 37,200 crore, 69% of the total tax revenue of Rs 53,565 crore, in the 2023-24 fiscal from these two taxes. Officials said it would be possible only by taking measures to facilitate taxpayers and increase the revenue. The department has started monthly performance monitoring with 18 key performance indicators in each taxation ward, apart from extensively using the GST analytics and intelligence network, business intelligence and fraud analytics, and GST portal, to effectively analyse and check evasions. A close eye is being kept on the state borders to check unauthorised entry of vehicles to prevent GST violations.