Goods and services tax (GST) collections for December did not deliver much comfort to the government ahead of the Budget 2018, although these rose after two months of declines. GST collections at Rs 867.03 billion were less than the target of Rs 910 billion combined for the Centre and states.

The figures, released by the finance ministry on Thursday, highlighted subdued collection in the composition scheme — a flat rate provided to taxpayers who do not seek input tax credit. The government thinks evasion in this scheme will be plugged by the e-way bill, which will be ...