The government collected Rs 96,483 crore as Goods and Services Tax in July, a tad higher than June’s figure of Rs 95,610 crore, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. The government attributed the increase in collection to the e-waybills that helped improve compliance.
The e-waybill is considered as an anti-evasion measure. Under GST, transporters or businesses have to generate an e-waybill for moving goods worth Rs 50,000 crore or more both within and outside states. In July, 66 lakh businesses filed returns – the highest number of monthly GSTR-3B filed since the rollout of the tax regime in July 2017, according to PTI.
Since April, there has been a steady increase in the number of returns filed. As many as 60.47 lakh returns were filed in April, 62.47 lakh in May and 64.69 lakh in June.
The July revenue collection does not reflect the impact of the GST Council’s decision to either exempt or cut tax rate on several items. During the 28th meeting of the council on July 21, over 50 items were moved to lower tax slabs and some, including sanitary napkins, were exempted from any tax.
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