Hyderabad: The Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Hyderabad Zone, covering Telangana State, hopes to collect over Rs 17,500 crore revenue this fiscal, Hyderabad Zone Chief Commissioner Sandeep M Bhatnagar said on Thursday.

"On the revenue front, Hyderabad Zone put together will contribute over Rs 17,500 crore this fiscal up from Rs 14,500 crore last financial year," the Chief Commissioner said. He added that demonetisation has had no impact on tax collection. "Whatever target (of Rs 17,500 crore) the Government of India had set for this zone, is going to be exceeded," he said on the sidelines of the 74th Central Excise Day here. The zone has made all arrangements for roll out/implementation of GST and has been helping those from trade to migrate to GST, Bhatnagar said.

The Chief Commissioner also explained about the concept of 'Mission Zero' programme which was initiated and implemented by the zone and has been replicated all over the country. It (Mission Zero programme) has been appreciated by all as it has brought down the pendency level to zero in areas which are close to the assesses like refund/rebate/drawback and adjudication, he said.

He further said "This is the last Central Excise Day celebration and becomes more significant because we are on the cusp of GST." He also stated that this year CBEC is the single largest contributor to the national exchequer with the collection of Rs 8,50,000 crore, which is very critical to the nation building. Earlier, speaking at the event, Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) President Justice Satish Chandra advised the department to be friendly with the tax payers.

He applauded departmental initiatives for introduction of mandatory pre-deposits in the entire appellant forums because of which the workload for various judicial fora have come down significantly. Ace shuttler P V Sindhu while appreciating tax reforms and upcoming GST thanked the Government for giving her an opportunity to participate in the GST campaign.