Average collections this financial year are still above ₹1.02 lakh crore

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues slid to a six-month low of ₹98,202 crore in August 2019. Average collections this financial year are still above ₹1.02 lakh crore, however.

“The total gross GST revenue collected in August, 2019 is ₹98,202 crore of which CGST is ₹17,733crore, SGST is ₹24,239crore, IGST is ₹48,958 crore and cess is ₹7,273 crore,” the government said in a release. “The total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for July up to August 31, 2019 is 75.80 lakh.”

The revenue collected in August 2019 was 4.51% higher than what was collected in the same month of the previous year.

“During April-August 2019 vis-à-vis 2018, the domestic component has grown by 9.11% while the GST on imports has come down by 1.43% and the total collection has grown by 6.38%.”

“Slowdown in GST collections perhaps reflects the economic realities on the ground,” Pratik Jain, Partner & Leader, Indirect Tax, PwC India said. “While it’s 4.5% higher than the corresponding period of last year, it’s much below the target, despite the reduction in the estimates in the Union Budget.

“During April-August 2019 vis-à-vis 2018, the domestic component has grown by 9.11% while the GST on imports has come down by 1.43% and the total collection has grown by 6.38%,” the government release said.

“With virtually no room for rate increases, the government would hope that efforts to plug tax leakages would yield results soon,” Mr. Jain said. “Given the slowdown in collections, it would be interesting to see if the GST Council would consider rate cuts in its meeting, later this month, for the automobile sector as the industry has been pushing for.”