The GST collection remained above Rs 1 lakh crore for the third month in a row at over Rs 1.17 lakh crore in September. In September it was 23 percent higher than Rs 95,480 crore collected in September 2020 and 27 percent higher than Rs 91,916 crore collected in September 2019. As the festive season starts, GST collections should also see a rise in the near future.
The collection in September is the highest in five months since April when revenue was at a record high of Rs 1.41 lakh crore. Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in August and July was Rs 1.12 lakh crore and Rs 1.16 lakh crore respectively.
“The gross GST revenue collected in the month of September 2021 is Rs 1,17,010 crore of which Central GST is Rs 20,578 crore, State GST is Rs 26,767 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 60,911 crore (including Rs 29,555 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 8,754 crore (including Rs 623 crore collected on import of goods), the finance ministry said in a statement.
During September, revenues from the import of goods were 30 percent higher and the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) were 20 percent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. The average monthly gross GST collection for the second (July-September) quarter of the current year has been Rs 1.15 lakh crore, which is 5 percent higher than the average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the first quarter of the year.
The Centre has also released GST compensation of Rs 22,000 crore to States to meet their GST revenue gap. It will benefit the states’ cash flow situation, allowing accelerated spending in the December quarter, complementing the expected boost to central government spending.
GST collection figures indicate that growth of the economy is leading to stable collections, which would help in achieving the fiscal deficit target of 6.8 percent of GDP as most of the key manufacturing states reporting a growth of 20 percent plus compared to last year indicates that an economic revival is clearly in progress across key states.
This clearly indicates that the economy is recovering at a fast pace. Coupled with economic growth, anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers have also been contributing to the enhanced GST collections. It is expected that the positive trend in the revenues will continue and the second half of the year will post higher revenues.
