Ranchi, Oct 29: The Jharkhand government has signed an agreement with Choice Consultancy Services Private Limited to develop an Integrated Revenue Intelligence System (IRIS) aimed at strengthening revenue collection, identifying tax evasion and plugging revenue leakages through the integration of online portals of various government departments.
The agreement was signed under the Commercial Taxes Department’s CT-MIS project at Project Bhawan on Thursday in the presence of Finance and Commercial Taxes Minister Radhakrishna Kishore. The company was selected as the new system integrator through a tender process.
The IRIS system is scheduled to be developed within six months, followed by a three-year implementation phase. It will integrate the IT applications and online portals of various revenue-collecting departments, using Business Intelligence (BI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to analyse databases and identify potential instances of tax evasion and revenue leakage.
Speaking at the event, Kishore said Jharkhand needed to strengthen its own revenue resources amid financial pressures arising from central policies and changes affecting state revenues. He said the state was facing an estimated financial loss of around Rs 22,000 crore, including approximately Rs 14,000 crore attributed to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, and around Rs 4,000 crore each due to GST reforms and reduced grants under the MGNREGA framework.
The minister also highlighted the environmental, public health and infrastructure costs associated with mineral extraction and transportation, saying the state had to use its own resources to address these impacts. He described the agreement as an important step towards strengthening Jharkhand’s financial self-reliance and making revenue administration more transparent, effective and technology-driven.
Commissioner of Commercial Taxes-cum-Secretary Amit Kumar said the system would facilitate coordination among departments by integrating their portals through application programming interfaces (APIs). The proposed integrations include the JIMMS portal of the Mines and Geology Department, the VAHAN portal of the Transport Department, the WAMIS portal used by works departments, land registration portals, property tax portals, labour cess portals, trade licence portals and electricity billing systems.
The plan also includes linking relevant transport, excise and tax portals to enable cross-departmental analysis of revenue-related information. The data generated through IRIS will help the concerned departments identify potential irregularities and take appropriate action in accordance with the rules.
A representative of Choice Consultancy Services, Subhash Pathak, presented the proposed system’s functionality, technical architecture and implementation plan.
Kishore said the initiative was being undertaken in line with Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s vision of strengthening the state’s revenue-generating capacity. He expressed confidence that the project would improve coordination among revenue-collecting departments and help curb revenue leakage.
The programme was attended by Joint Secretary Poonam Kujur, Additional Commissioner of State Taxes Dilip Kumar Mandal, Jeevanarayan Mandal, other departmental officials and representatives of the consultancy firm.
