Steep decline in Telangana’s May-June SGST earnings

HYDERABAD: Hit hard by Covid-19 induced economic slowdown, Telangana SGST (State Goods and Services Tax) earnings in the months of May and June have dropped to Rs 1,700 crore.
Details accessed by TOI from the Centre show that the state earned SGST of Rs 1,460 crore in April, whereas the SGST collections in May and June remained the same at Rs 850 crore each.
Despite a sharp fall in SGST collections, experts pointed out that the state economy has witnessed a V-shaped recovery. “A V-shaped recovery means an immediate recovery, where the unmet demand in every area will bounce back, taking the finances to normal level as soon as possible. GST collection has been good in Telangana, it is a matter of time the state will bounce back to normalcy,” said K Narsimha Murthy, director, national stock exchange, and finance expert.
Due to non-uniformity in the tax collection, the state was receiving less GST compensation since 2017, but now that gap has widened further. Even as the SGST is on decline, there has been a drop in CGST collection also. The collections were around Rs 1,100 crore in the month of April, but was down to around Rs 650 crore in the months of May and June.
Among the four components, SGST and IGST compensation falls into the state's kitty. The state was also supposed to receive around Rs 925 crore IGST compensation in the month of June.