GST Collection in June Stands at Rs 90,917 Crore, up from Rs 62,009 Cr in May

GST revenue collection in June stood at Rs 90,917 crore, up from Rs 62,009 crore mopped up in May and Rs 32,294 crore in April.

The goods and Services Tax (GST) mop up was 9 per cent lower on a year-on-year basis in June, while it was 62 per cent down in May and fell 28 per cent in April.

GST collections for the first quarter (April-June) of this fiscal declined 59 per cent, when compared to the same quarter last year as lockdown imposed to contain spread of COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted economic activity.

"The revenues during the financial year has been impacted due to COVID-19, firstly due to the economic impact of the pandemic and secondly due to the relaxations given by the government in filing of returns and payment of taxes due to the pandemic. However, figures of past three months show recovery in GST revenues," the finance ministry said in a statement.

States like Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka witnessed growth in collection in June over last year.

North Eastern states like Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh too witnessed Increase in revenue during the month.

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of June, this year stood at Rs 90,917 crore of which Central GST is Rs 18,980 crore, State GST is Rs 23,970 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 40,302 crore (including Rs 15,709 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 7,665 crore, the statement said.

"The government collected gross #GST revenue of Rs 90,917 crore in June 2020, which is 91 per cent of the collections in June 2019," Office of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet.

During the month, the revenues from import of goods were 71 per cent and the revenues from domestic transaction were 97 per cent of the collections from these sources during the same month last year.

The government has settled Rs 13,325 crore to Central GST and Rs 11,117 crore to State GST from Integrated GST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by central government and state governments after regular settlement in June, stood at Rs 32,305 crore for Central GST and Rs 35,087 crore for the State GST.

The government had allowed a relaxed time schedule for filing of GST returns and returns for the month of April, March as well as February got filed during June 2020.

Some returns of May 2020, which would have otherwise got filed in June 2020, will get filed during first few days of July 2020, the Ministry added.

EY Tax Partner Abhishek Jain said the GST collections while in the first quarter have obviously witnessed a substantial dip because of the current pandemic, however, the increasing trend in June inclines to a recovery being in line soon.

"With this shortfall and related dip in revenue for states as well, the Centre's obligations to compensate States for any shortfall is an area of concern and this being further deepened with muted compensation cess collections," Jain added.

Deloitte India Partner M S Manu said the June revenue numbers indicate that a revival is underway and collections will improve in the coming months.

"In June some of larger producing states have shown an increase in collections or stable revenues compared to last year while some of the consuming states have shown a decline," Mani added.