Two thousand and five hundred rupee banknotes. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

GST Collections Cross Rs 1 Lakh Crore-Mark For December

Jan 31 2019, 1:16 PMJan 31 2019, 2:15 PMJanuary 31 2019, 1:16 PMJanuary 31 2019, 2:15 PM

The government’s goods and services tax collections for December crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark only the third time since it was introduced.

“The total Gross GST Revenue collected in the month of January, 2019 has today crossed Rs 1 lakh crore,” the Finance Ministry said in a tweet. “This has been a significant improvement over collection of Rs 94,725 crore during last month and Rs 89,825 crore during the same month last year.”

The finance ministry said that final figures will be published on Feb. 2, 2019, a day after the Union Budget presentation.

This increase has been achieved despite various Tax Relief measures implemented by the GST Council to lower the tax burden on the consumers.

Final figures and details of collections for the entire month will be intimated on 2nd February, 2019.
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) January 31, 2019

The data may be a temporary reprieve for the Narendra Modi-administration as GST collections had been falling for the past two months. The government’s finances are under stress as it races to meet its 3.3-percent fiscal deficit target.

“Exceeding 1 lakh crore mark for the third time comes as a welcome relief for the Government, particularly after some dip in the last month. This again underlines that collections are increasing steadily as compliances are getting simplified, rates are getting reduced and administration is getting sharper,” Pratik Jain, Partner , Indirect Tax, at PwC India said in an emailed statement. “That said, it's clear that overall collection for the entire year would be significantly lower than what was budgeted. It will be interesting to see whether the estimated collections in the next financial year would reflect the collection trend in the current year.”