Bihar Government Unable To Collect Rs 4885 Crore Revenue: CAG Report

Patna: The Bihar government has been unable to efficiently collect its revenue, which has led to arrears worth Rs 4885 crore, of which Rs 1430 crore was outstanding for over five years, as on March 31, 2023.

Moreover, the state suffered a loss of revenue worth Rs 4,719 crore due to underassessment, short levy and various other deficiencies in 1,764 cases during the financial year 2022-23.

These facts came to light in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports II, III, IV, and V of 2025, which pertain to the performance and compliance audit (civil and commercial), the functioning of district transport offices across the state, and the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G).

Bihar Finance and Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav laid the reports in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and later in the Legislative Council on Thursday.

Break-up of majority of arrears

Giving the break-up of the revenue arrears, the CAG pointed out that Rs 2372 crore was outstanding as taxes on sales and trade as on March 31, 2023, of which Rs 1289 crore was dues for more than five years.

During the same period, Rs 1505 crore on revenue from non-ferrous mining and metallurgical industries, Rs 302 crore of land revenue, Rs 249 crore on goods and passengers, and Rs 216 on stamp duty and registration fees were pending recovery.

"The mines and geology department, the transport department, the revenue and land reforms department, as well as, the prohibition, excise and registration department did not provide details of arrears outstanding for more than five years," the CAG said in the report.

It also pointed out that the transport, revenue and land reforms, and prohibition, excise and registration departments did not provide the stages of pendency for outstanding arrears.

Shape of public sector enterprises

While the Bihar government is working up to shore up the industrial sector and attract more entrepreneurs to establish industries in the state, the CAG report highlighted that out of the 37 state public sector enterprises (SPSEs) functioning in Bihar, only 18 earned profit of Rs 327 crore in 2022-23, which was 29 percent lower than the Rs 463 crore profit earned by them in the previous financial year 2021-22. Of the profitable SPSEs, only four declared dividends of Rs 321 crore.

The top three profit-earning SPSEs were the Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited, which earned a net profit of around Rs 90 crore, the Bihar State Text Book Publishing Corporation Limited, which earned a profit of Rs 63 crore, and the Bihar State Road Development Corporation Limited, with a profit of Rs 32 crore.

Out of the 37 working SPSEs, 13 incurred losses, according to their latest finalised accounts, during 2022-23. The losses incurred by these 13 SPSEs decreased to Rs 2,160 crore in 2022-23, from Rs 2,759 crore in 2021-22.

"As on 31 March 2023, there were 14 SPSEs, with accumulated losses of Rs 27,307.96 crore. The net worth of 10, out of these 14 SPSEs was completely eroded by accumulated losses, and their net worth was negative as per the latest finalised accounts as on 31 March 2023," the report revealed.

Anomalies in Commercial tax-collections

Focusing on commercial taxes, the report revealed that out of a total of 1.36 lakh Electronic Way Bills (EWBs) verified in Bihar between 2018-19 and 2021-22, final inspection reports were recorded in only 2.28 per cent or 3100 cases.

It also highlighted several cases where EWBs of taxable supplies were generated, but the taxpayers did not file Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns during the period, as well as mismatches in tax liability.

The CAG also detected an underpayment of compensation worth Rs 8.84 crore to 517 families affected by the government's land acquisition in Sitamarhi district. This occurred because the district land acquisition office applied a multiplication factor of 1.5 instead of two, while calculating the amount.

"Twenty registering authorities could not detect undervaluation of land in 42 instruments, which resulted in short levy of stamp duty and registration fee for ₹ 4.45 crore. Application of incorrect category of land by Nawada district sub-registrar during execution of sale deeds resulted in short levy of stamp duty and registration fee of Rs 1.8 crore,” the report said.

Read More

1. Nitish Kumar Gives A Dressing Down To Opposition In The Bihar Legislative Assembly
2. Bihar To Get Its Own Act To Govern Civil Courts; Legislative Assembly Passes Bill To Replace British Era Statute