Chandigarh, Dec 2 : Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema on Saturday said the state has achieved 16.61 per cent increase in net Goods and Service Tax (GST) collection up to November, and the revenue from Excise recorded a growth rate of 11.45 per cent during the first eight months of FY 2023-24 against the same period of the last fiscal. The minister said the net GST collection registers an increase of Rs 1987.62 crore in this fiscal with a net revenue collection of Rs 13,955.38 crore against the collection of Rs 11,967.76 crore up to November in 2022-23. Revealing the growth achieved in the revenue collection from excise, Cheema said the total revenue from excise in this fiscal is Rs 5,947.47 crore against Rs 5,336.61 crore in the first eight months of 2022-23, registering an increase of Rs 610.86 crore. He said the net revenue collection from VAT, CST, GST, PSDT and Excise up to November reflected an increase of 13.89 per cent in comparison to the net collection of Rs 2,1921.46 crore from these resources during the same period in 2022-23. Cheema said the government has increased its own tax revenue by tightening the noose around the tax evaders and facilitating the honest taxpayers through simplification of the tax regime. He said the eight-month tax receipts of the state have touched the Rs 25,000 crore figure for the first time since the implementation of GST with a net revenue collection of Rs 24,965.59 crore from VAT, CST, GST, PSDT and excise. /IANS