India / GST collection in December touches all-time high of ₹1.15 lakh cr

New Delhi: Goods and service tax (GST) collections for December clocked an all-time high of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore since the introduction of the taxation regime in July 2017.

The collection for December is the highest in the current financial year and is the third consecutive month of crossing the Rs 1 lakh crore mark. In October and November, the collections were at Rs 1.05 lakh crore and Rs 1.04 lakh crore.

Compared to December 2019, collections are 12% higher, underlining the trend of economic recovery amid the Covid 19 pandemic and in line with the recent trend of recovery in the GST revenues.

“This is the highest growth in monthly revenues since the last 21 months,” the finance ministry said in a statement Friday.“This has been due to the combined effect of the rapid economic recovery post pandemic and the nation-wide drive against GST evaders and fake bills along with many systemic changes introduced recently, which have led to improved compliance,” the ministry added.

The highest GST collection till now was Rs 1,13,866 crore in April 2019. The revenues of April normally tend to be high since they pertain to the returns of March, which marks the end of financial year.

“The GST collections crossing 1.15 lakh crore for the first time ever despite that we are not complete out of the pandemic is simply fantastic and indicates a remarkable recovery in the economy,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner at EY.

The average growth in GST revenues during the last quarter has been 7.3% as compared to (-) 8.2% during the second quarter and (-) 41.0% during the first quarter of the financial year.

During the month, revenues from import of goods was 27% higher and the revenues from domestic transaction including import of services, are 8% higher that the revenues from these sources during the same month in 2019.

Of the GST revenue collected in December 2020, central GST is Rs 21,365 crore, state GST is Rs 27,804 crore, integrated GST is Rs 57,426 crore (including Rs 27,050 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 8,579 crore (including Rs 971 crore collected on import of goods).

The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of November up to 31st December 2020 is 87 lakhs.

The government has settled Rs 23,276 crore to CGST and Rs 17,681 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of December 2020 is Rs 44,641 crore for CGST and Rs 45,485 crore for the SGST.