For 2nd straight month, GST revenue over ₹1 lakh crore
NEW DELHI: Revenue from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) exceeded ₹1 lakh crore for the second consecutive month, coming in at ₹1,04,963 crore in November, a 1.4% year-on-year growth, and also registering a third straight month of growth — an indication that economic activity in India is returning to normal after coronavirus disruptions.
NEW DELHI: Revenue from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) exceeded ₹1 lakh crore for the second consecutive month, coming in at ₹1,04,963 crore in November, a 1.4% year-on-year growth, and also registering a third straight month of growth — an indication that economic activity in India is returning to normal after disruptions caused by the pandemic and restrictions imposed to fight it.
The revenue in November was almost flat when compared to the ₹1,05,155 crore collected in the previous month.GST collections were in contraction mode for six months to August.
“In line with the recent trend of recovery in the GST revenues, the revenues for the month of November 2020 are 1.4% higher than the revenues in the same month last year,” the Union finance ministry said.The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2020 is ₹1,04,963 crore, of which Central GST (CGST) is ₹19,189 crore, State GST (SGST) is ₹25,540 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is ₹51,992 crore (including ₹22,078 cr collected on import of goods),
GDP growth data leased last week showed that the Indian economy contracted by 7.5% in the three months ended September, bettering most analyst estimates. The economy shrank by a sharp 23.9% in the three months ended June, with two of these months coinciding with a hard lockdown imposed to fight the pandemic. Manufacturing activity, as indicated by the purchasing managers’ index continues to be in expansion territory , at 56.3, although this was lower than the 12-year high of 58.9 seen in October. The Nomura India Business Resumption Index, a measure of business activity with pre-pandemic levels (100), was at its highest ever value of 89.2 on Tuesday.
Analysts expect both October and parts of November to have been good for businesses because of three kinds of demand: pent-up, festive, and organic. They also expect the end of the festive season (Diwali was in mid-November) to cause a dip in festive demand. November saw a 9% year-on-year increase in wholesale car sales (although these were 14% lower than in October). The challenge, they believe, is the sustainability of this through December and the last quarter of 2020-21.
The collection of compensation cess in November was ₹8,242crore. The cess collection has shown a marginal increase of about 3% compared to ₹8,011 crore in October. At the time of introducing the new indirect tax regime in July 2017, the GST law assured states a 14% increase in their annual revenue for five years (up to 2022) and assured them that their revenue shortfall would be made good through the compensation cess levied on luxury goods and sin products such as liquor, cigarettes, aerated water, automobiles, coal and tobacco.