GST collections below 1 lakh crore for third consecutive month
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection declined 5.29 percent to Rs 95,380 crore in October. The collection in October last year was Rs 1,00,710 crore. This information has been given in the government data released on Friday.
This is the third consecutive month when GST collection is below Rs 1 lakh crore.
The GST collection in September stood at Rs 91,916 crore.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement, “The total GST collection in October 2019 stood at Rs 95,380 crore. It included Central GST (CGST) Rs 17,582 crore, State GAST (SGST) Rs 23,674 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) Rs 46,517 crore (Rs 21,446 crore received from imported goods) and Cess share of Rs 7,607 crore (Rs 774 crore from imported goods).
The statement said that for the month of September, a total of 73.83 lakh GSTR 3B returns (short statement of self-assessed returns) were filed till 30 October.
After regular settlements in the month of October, the state governments and the central government received a total revenue of Rs 38,224 crore as CGST and Rs 37,645 crore as SGST.
CAT, an association of retail traders, said about the data that low tax collections should not be construed as an indicator of economic slowdown.
They alleged that the reason for the tax collection was offline companies which recently pulled a large chunk of customers under their special sales campaign.
CAT said, “These companies are involved in giving huge discounts in violation of FDI rules. They have the ability to defraud the state exchequer by stealing GST. “
ICRA economist Aditi Nair said that the decline in GST collections on an annual basis in the month of October is disturbing. However, it can be said that the recent reduction in GST rates and the low demand are responsible for this.
