GST mop-up crosses Rs 1 lakh crores for three straight months in May

GST collections grew 6.67 per cent to touch Rs 1 lakh crore in May, as compared to Rs 94,016 crore in the year-ago period, the government said Saturday.

The gross Goods and Services Tax collections in May at Rs 1,00,289 crore is, however, lower than Rs 1,13,865 crore collected in April, which was the highest ever collection since roll out of the GST from July 1, 2017.

This is the third consecutive month in which GST collections have crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark. In March mop up was Rs 1.06 lakh crore.

As many as 72.45 lakh summary sales return or GSTR -3B were filed in May, higher than 72.13 lakh filed in April.

"The total gross GST revenue collected in the month of May, 2019 is Rs 1,00,289 crore of which Central GST is Rs 17,811 crore, State GST is Rs 24,462 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 49,891 crore  and cess is Rs 8,125 crore," Finance Ministry said in a statement.

An amount of Rs 18,934 crore has been released to the states as GST compensation for the months of February-March, 2019.

The ministry said revenue in May, 2019 is 2.21 per cent higher than the monthly average of GST revenue in fiscal 2018-19 (Rs 98,114 crore) and 6.67 per cent higher than May 2018 collections.

During May 2019, the government has settled Rs 18,098 crore to CGST and Rs 14,438 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by the central government and the states after regular settlement in the month of May, 2019 is Rs 35,909 crore for CGST and Rs 38,900 crore for the SGST, the ministry added.

EY Tax Partner Abhishek Jain said: "The continuing trend of collections above Rs 1 lakh crore signifies the growth story of GST and also the reaping benefits of this new tax era".

For 2019-20, the government proposes to collect Rs 6.10 lakh crore from CGST and Rs 1.01 lakh crore as compensation cess. The IGST balance has been pegged at Rs 50,000 crore.

The CGST collection in 2018-19 was Rs 4.25 lakh crore, while compensation cess was over Rs 97,000 crore.

"The trend in collections indicates revenue stabilisation, however, since this is short of the targets, more focus on compliance and anti-evasion can be expected by businesses," M S Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said.