GST collection crosses Rs 1 lakh cr in Oct, first in FY21

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of October 2020 was Rs 1,05,155 crore, an official statement said on Sunday.

This is the first time in the current financial year that the gross GST collections has crossed the Rs 1-lakh-crore-mark.

Out of the total GST revenue collected, CGST (Central GST) was Rs 19,193 crore, SGST (State GST) was Rs 25,411 crore and IGST (Integrated GST) was Rs 52,540 crore (including Rs 23,375 crore collected on import of goods) and cess was Rs 8,011 crore (including Rs 932 crore collected on import of goods).

The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of October upto was 80 lakh. The government has settled Rs 25,091 crore to CGST and Rs 19,427 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of October, 2020 was Rs 44,285 crore for CGST and Rs 44,839 crore for the SGST.

The revenues for the month are 10 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year, said a Finance Ministry statement.

During the month, revenues from import of goods were 9 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) were 11 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The statement said that the growth in GST revenue as compared to that in months of July, August and September, 2020 shows the trajectory of recovery of the economy and, correspondingly, of the revenues, it said.

Pratik Jain, Partner & Leader, Indirect Tax, PwC India noted that given the surge in number of returns filed and the fact that there is clear uptake in demand due to revival of economy as well as upcoming festive season, it is not surprising that collections in October has exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore.

"One of the reasons for higher number of returns could be the fact that last date for claiming input credit for 2019-20 was September 30 and lot of companies would have carried out a yearly reconciliation and asked their vendors to file returns or report missing transactions," he said.

Jain was of the view that given the festivities, collections in November could also be robust.

Rajat Bose, Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co said: "The collections in October are very encouraging. Festive buying coupled with policy tweaks promoting 'Make in India' seem to be the main reasons behind the rebound. Hopefully, this trend will continue in the coming months."

According to M.S. Mani, Senior Director, Deloitte, the increase in collections indicates the "definitive" revival of consumption and festival spends across the economy.

"Continuance of this trend will help in narrowing the fiscal deficit for FY21 and will go a long way in reviving business confidence across sectors as the impact of the unlock process across states gets translated into GST collection figures," Mani said..