The dip in property sales has taken its toll on the Stamp Duty revenue in India.

Two-thirds of the financial year is over but only about 50% of the annual target has been met. Officials fear the final 2009-2010 revenue is likely to fall short by about 20%. The target for this financial year is Rs 9,600 crore.

A senior official said the initial target had been revised downwards last financial year to Rs 8,600 crore but the department failed to meet that either. 'There are indications that collections could be similar this financial year, too,' he added.

Additional chief secretary (stamps and revenue) M Rameshkumar admitted the first quarter of the financial year was not good and attributed this slowdown to the financial crisis across the globe. 'But in the past couple of months, the situation has changed and that has given us a lot of hope,' he said.

Times of India