GST Collections Cross Rs 1 Lakh Crore-Mark For December

The government’s goods and services tax collections for December crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark only the third time since it was introduced.

“The total Gross GST Revenue collected in the month of January, 2019 was Rs 1.02 lakh crore,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement. “This has been a significant improvement over collection of Rs 94,725 crore during last month and Rs 89,825 crore during the same month last year.”

The break-up of tax collected under the various heads were:

• Central GST- Rs 17,763 crore
• State GST- Rs 24,826 crore
• Integrated GST- Rs 51,225 crore
• Compensation Cess- Rs 8,690 crore

Integrated GST is settled between the states and the centre, based on the consumption in the respective state. Post settlement, CGST was Rs 36,107 crore and and Rs 39,503 crore for the SGST.

The total number of GSTR-3B returns filed for the month of December in January were 73.3 lakh, higher than 72.4 lakh returns filed for November.

The data may be a temporary reprieve for the Narendra Modi-administration as GST collections had been falling for the past two months. The government’s finances are under stress as it races to meet its 3.4-percent fiscal deficit target.

“Exceeding 1 lakh crore mark for the third time comes as a welcome relief for the Government, particularly after some dip in the last month. This again underlines that collections are increasing steadily as compliances are getting simplified, rates are getting reduced and administration is getting sharper,” Pratik Jain, Partner, Indirect Tax, at PwC India said in an emailed statement. “That said, it's clear that overall collection for the entire year would be significantly lower than what was budgeted. It will be interesting to see whether the estimated collections in the next financial year would reflect the collection trend in the current year.”

Updates earlier copy with the latest numbers released by the Finance Ministry