GST Collections Stay Above Rs 1 Lakh Crore For Third Straight Month In August

The government’s goods and services tax revenue collection stayed above Rs 1 lakh crore for the third straight month.

GST revenue for August, collected in September, stood at Rs 1,17,010 crore, the highest in five months, according to a Finance Ministry statement. That’s 4.4% higher than the preceding month and 23% above the year-ago period.

Break-up of GST collections:

• Central GST: Rs 20,578 crore.

• State GST: Rs 26,767 crore.

• Integrated GST: Rs 60,911 crore (includes Rs 29,555 crore collected on import of goods).

• Cess: Rs 8,754 crore (includes Rs 623 crore collected on import of goods).

The central government has also released GST compensation of Rs 22,000 crore to states to meet their GST revenue gap, the statement said.

The average monthly gross GST collection for the second quarter of the current year stood at Rs 1.15 lakh crore, which is 5% higher than the average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the first quarter of the year. “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 been contributing to the enhanced GST collections,” the statement said.

Although the pace of growth in collections has eased over a year earlier, the decline occurred due to a “normalising base”, Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA, said in an emailed statement. The GST compensation cess to states will benefit their cash flow situation, “allowing accelerated spending in the third quarter of FY22, complementing the expected boost to central government spending after the easing of cash management guidelines”.

With the economy having recovered from pandemic lows, GST collections have also stabilised, Abhishek Jain, tax partner at EY said in an emailed comment. "With the festive season coming up, we can expect an uptick in collections," he added.