In more fiscal worries for the government, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection dropped 5.29 per cent to Rs95,380 crore in the month of October 2019, on year-on-year basis.

Out of the total GST collection in this period, the central GST (CGST) comprised Rs17,582 crore and state GST (SGST) was Rs23,674 crore. The integrated GST (IGST) stood at Rs 46,517 crore (including Rs 21,446 crore collected on imports) while cess was Rs7,607 crore (including Rs774 crore collected on imports). The total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the month of September up to Oct.31 was Rs73.83 lakh.

“The government has settled Rs20,642 crore to CGST and Rs13,971 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by the central government and the state governments after regular settlement in the month of October, 2019, is Rs38,224 crore for CGST and Rs37,645 crore for the SGST,” a Finance Ministry statement said.

The monthly GST collection has fallen despite October being festive season and government announcing a slew of measures to boost the economy.

“This looks like a difficult situation for the government. Many more steps would need to be taken to improve revenue collection. The government would have to ensure better compliance and increase in taxpayer base,”said Amit Bhagat, Partner, Dhruva Advisors.

The lower GST collection reflects weak consumption demand and overall economic slowdown. The GST collection had fallen 19-month low to Rs91,916 crore in the month of September.

“The revenue during October, 2019 is declined by 5.29 per cent in comparison to the revenue during October, 2018. However, during April-October, 2019 vis-A-vis 2018, the domestic component has shown 6.74 per cent growth while the GST on imports has shown negative growth and the total collection has grown by 3.38 per cent,” the Finance Ministry said.

Indo-Asian News Service