Lucknow, March 10 -- The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday claimed an increase of Rs.415.18 crore in its tax and non-tax revenue earnings in February 2026 though collections from VAT (value added tax) and excise in the same month dipped marginally this year. Giving details, Uttar Pradesh finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said the total revenue collection went up from Rs.17,997.07 crore in February 2025 to Rs.18,412.25 crore in the same month this year. He said this was 66.4% of the target of Rs.27,732.61 crore for the same month. He said the state government's total tax collections up to February (April 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026) reached Rs.1,96,653.27 crore, about 73.2% of the target of Rs.2,68,575.78 crore for the same period. Khanna said the state government's GST collections increased from Rs.6847.67 crore in February 2025 to Rs.7202.36 crore in the same month this year. Its VAT collections, however, remained Rs.2525.87 crore in February 2026 against the earnings of Rs.2530.76 crore made under the same head in February 2025. He said the state government's collections from excise in February 2026 also dipped to Rs.4503.68 crore from Rs.4928.72 crore collected under the same head in 2025. The earnings under the head dipped because the excise to be collected in February 2026 would now be realised in March 2026, he explained.htc...