Goods And Services Tax Collection Advance 13% To Rs 1.29 Lakh Crore In December

GST revenues in December 2021 grew 13 per cent to over Rs 1.29 lakh crore, mainly due to pickup in economic activity and anti-evasion steps, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

Though the collection was lower than Rs 1.31 lakh crore mopped up in November, December is the sixth month in a row when the revenues from goods sold and services rendered stood at over Rs 1 lakh crore.

"The gross GST revenue collected in December 2021 is Rs 1,29,780 crore, of which CGST is Rs 22,578 crore, SGST is Rs 28,658 crore, IGST is Rs 69,155 crore (including Rs 37,527 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 9,389 crore (including Rs 614 crore collected on import of goods)," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The revenues for December 2021 are 13 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year (Rs 1.15 lakh crore) and 26 per cent higher than December 2019. 

The average monthly gross GST collection for the third quarter (October-December) of the current year has been Rs 1.30 lakh crore against the average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore and Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the first and second quarters, respectively.

"Coupled with economic recovery, anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers have been contributing to the enhanced GST. The improvement in revenue has also been due to various rate rationalisation measures undertaken by the Council to correct inverted duty structure," the ministry said.

It hoped that the positive trend in the revenues will continue in the last quarter as well. 

There has been a 17 per cent reduction in the number of e-way bills generated in November 2021 at 6.1 crore as compared to 7.4 crore in October 2021, due to improved tax compliance and better tax administration by the central and state tax authorities.

Deloitte India Partner MS  Mani said GST collections are high despite a reduction in the e-way bill generation during the same period.

This is possibly on account of a higher collection from the services sector accompanied by a continuing focus on the implementation of technology-based anti-evasion measures, Mani added. 

Icra Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said the GST collections for December 2021 are certainly impressive in absolute terms as well as the year-on-year growth, given the sequential drop in GST e-way bills that had been seen during the festive month of November 2021.