Swachh Bharat cess garners Rs 329 crore in a month!

The government has managed to collect a total of Rs 329.6 crore within a month from the 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess imposed on all taxable services.

"The provisional figures of Swachh Bharat cess collected till December 16, 2015, is about Rs 329.6 crore," MoS Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The government had imposed the cess with effect from November 15 to fund Swachh Bharat programme.

Between November 15 and March 31, 2016, the revenue estimated to be collected is about Rs 3,750 crore, Sinha said.

The minister added that the proceeds collected through the cess would be allocated to the state governments to fund Swachh Bharat initiatives.

The amount estimated to be collected from Swachh Bharat cess on all taxable services which are not exempt or in negative list in a full financial year is about Rs 10,000 crore.

Revenue for the next financial year has not been estimated so far, he said.

With the Swachh Bharat cess, the Service Tax rate has gone up to 14.5 per cent from 14 per cent.

(Image credits: BCCL)