Odisha govt suffered loss of Rs 75 crore excise revenue during COVID pandemic: CAG
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) unearthed a loss of excise revenue amounting to Rs 75.07 crore due to manipulation of manually maintained sales registers by retail shops of alcoholic beverages in Odisha during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In its report, which was placed in the assembly on Saturday, the CAG said that the Odisha Excise Department in May 2020 imposed the Special COVID Fee (SCF), at the rate of 50 per cent of the maximum retail price, on all foreign made foreign liquor, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), beer, wine and ready to drink beverages, sold in the state.
SCF was imposed in view of the expected loss of excise revenue, on account of the two months' shutdown, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SCF was applicable on the alcoholic beverages, to be traded with effect from March 24, 2020, including the unsold stock lying with the retailers. To enforce this provision, excise field officials were instructed to verify the stock of the liquor shops, it said.
To examine the process of levy of SCF, the CAG intended to scrutinise 1,378 sales registers of 1,378 retail liquor shops functioning under 21 district excise offices. Out of these, 108 (7.84 percent) were not furnished to the audit.
Web Development
Django & PostgreSQL Mastery: Build Professional Web Applications
By — Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer
Marketing
Performance Marketing for eCommerce Brands
By — Zafer Mukeri, Founder- Inara Marketers
Finance
Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code
By — CA Rahul Gupta, CA
