Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections in December (for sales in November) rose 13 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 1.29 lakh crore, data released by the Finance Ministry on Saturday showed.
Anti-evasion measures coupled with a pickup in the services sector contributed to the rise in GST revenues despite a drop in e-way bills during the month.
GST revenues in December are lower than the Rs 1.31-lakh crore mop-up in November.
They, are however, 26 per cent higher than pre-pandemic level of December 2019 and marked the sixth month in a row of the collections crossing the Rs 1-lakh crore mark.
MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India, said the GST collections appear to have now established a consistent trend over the past few months. “The GST collections are high despite a reduction in the e-way bill generation during the same period possibly a higher collection from the services sector accompanied by a continuing focus on implementation of technology based anti evasion measures.”
State-wise breakup showed some states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan recorded a decline in GST collected in the regions during the month.
The average monthly gross GST collection for the third quarter (October-December) of the ongoing financial year has been Rs 1.30 lakh crore against the average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore and Rs 1.15 lakh crore recorded in the first and second quarters, respectively.
“Coupled with economic recovery, anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers have been contributing to the enhanced GST. The improvement in revenue has also been due to various rate rationalisation measures undertaken by the Council to correct inverted duty structure,” the Finance Ministry said.
Despite a 17 per cent fall in number of e-way bills generated, the overall GST collections maintained their consistent trend of staying above the Rs 1-lakh crore mark for the sixth straight month in December.
There has been a 17 per cent reduction in the number of e-way bills generated in November 2021 at 6.1 crore as compared to 7.4 crore in October 2021 due to improved tax compliance and better tax administration by the central and state tax authorities, it added.
“The improvement in revenue has also been due to various rate rationalisation measures undertaken by the Council to correct inverted duty structure. It is expected that the positive trend in the revenues will continue in the last quarter as well,” it further said.
Icra chief economist AditiNayar said the GST collections for December are impressive in absolute terms as well as the year-on-year growth, given the sequential drop in GST e-way bills that had been seen during the festive month of November.
Out of the overall Rs 1.29 lakh crore revenue, Central GST (CGST) — the tax levied on Intra State supplies of both goods and services by the Central Government — is Rs 22,578 crore, State GST (SGST)— the tax levied on Intra State supplies of both goods and services by the states — is Rs 28,658 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) — tax levied on all Inter-State supplies of goods and services — is Rs 69,155 crore (including Rs 37,527 crore collected on import of goods), and cess is
Rs 9,389 crore (including Rs 614 crore collected on import of goods).