Finance Ministry on Thursday reported all time high collection of Goods & Services Tax (GST) at over ₹1.23 lakh crore in the month of March.
“In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of March 2021 are 27 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year,” a statement issued by the Finance Ministry said. During the month, revenues from import of goods was 70 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 17 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
The collection in March includes ₹22,973 crore of CGST, ₹29,329 crore of SGST, ₹62,842 crore of IGST (including ₹31,097 crore collected on import of goods) and ₹ 8,757 crore of cess (including ₹935 crore collected on import of goods).
The GST revenue witnessed growth rate of (-) 41 per cent, (-) 8 per cent, 8 per cent and 14 per cent in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of FY 2020-21, respectively, as compared to the same period last year, “clearly indicating the trend in recovery of GST revenues as well as the economy as a whole.”
GST revenues crossed above ₹1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic. “Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, Income-tax and Customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months,” the statement said.