SG Road drives max state goods and services tax mop-up in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: It might as well be called the Rich Road of taxes in Gujarat. Of the 103 GST units of the state commercial tax department, Unit 11 - which includes areas on SG Road from Vaishnodevi circle to Sarkhej and industrial areas of Sanand, Changodar and Bavla - topped by mopping the highest Rs 3,502 crore in state goods and services tax (SGST) collection in the year 2022-23.
What's more, the second and third highest SGST collecting units in 2022-23 - 9 and 6 - were also in western Ahmedabad.
Driven by highly industrialised clusters coupled with corporate headquarters and overall consumer spending, these three units accounted for Rs 8,967 crore of the net state revenue of 48,339 crore in the state.
Ahmedabad is divided into 23 units but the three units including areas from Ashram Road to Sanand and Vaishnodevi Circle to Bavla notched higher revenues than Jamnagar and Gandhidham, which stood fourth and fifth in revenue collection, respectively.
The commercial tax department in Gujarat has divided the state into 12 divisions, which in turn are subdivided into 103 units.
According to data from the department, Unit-11 which includes parts of SG Highway is a tax bank, with Rs 3,502 crore of revenue, higher even than eight SGST divisions of the state.
R M Prajapati, assistant commissioner Unit-11, said, “SG Road and areas such as Bopal, Shela, Shilaj, Sindhu Bhavan, Science City, Vaishnodevi-Gota contribute at least 80% to the total revenue of Unit-11. The area has a number of corporate offices of electronics and mobile phone companies along with automobile and real estate majors, logistics firms and ecommerce entities, which drive revenue collection.”
Prajapati said corporate offices of companies contribute the lion’s share. “A leading home appliances company alone paid Rs 255 crore as SGST in the last fiscal year. An e-commerce firm paid Rs 110 crore, a logistics company Rs 96 crore and an automobile company Rs 93 crore as state GST – all are on or near SG Road,” he added.
Two other units, Unit-9 (Rs 2,801 crore) and Unit-6 (Rs 2,661 crore), covering areassuch as Satellite, Panchvati, Naranpura, Ashram Road, SP Stadium and Ellisbridge, were the second and third highest GST revenue generators in the state. They are followed by the units of highly industrialized Jamnagar (Rs 2,575 crore) and Gandhidham (Rs 2,560 crore).
Based on tax rates, logistics and transport, telecom, construction services, labour supply services, hotels, restaurants, healthcare and IT firms are among the top GST payers in the services segment followed by automobile dealerships, auto part dealerships and those of electronics, electricals, steel and online traders, among others in the goods segment.
Ajit Shah, president, Sanand Industries Association said, “Sanand and Changodar have emerged as key industrial clusters in the past decade and account for significant SGST revenues of the state. Moreover, Western Ahmedabad is also home to posh residences of businessmen, industrialists and top executives of corporations, which in turn drives consumption. As a result, the tax mop-up in these areas is bound to increase.”