The Union Ministry of Finance on Sunday said the gross Goods and Services Tax revenue collection in November was Rs 1.03 lakh crore, crossing the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the eighth time. The collections had dropped below the Rs 1 lakh-crore threshold the last three months.
The government said the collection “witnessed an impressive recovery with a positive growth of 6% in November” over the same month last year. The GST collection on domestic transactions grew 12% – the highest this year – it added. This was also the third-highest monthly collection since GST was rolled out.
Of the total collection in November, Rs 19,592 crore was central GST, Rs 27,144 crore was state GST, integrated GST was Rs 49,028 crore – including Rs 20,948 crore collected on imports – and Rs 7,727 crore was collected through cesses, the government said. The number of GST returns filed till November 30 was 77.83 lakh.
The revenue collection in October was Rs 95,380 crore, 3.8% higher than the 19-month low of Rs 91,916 crore the month before. Rs 98,202 crore was collected in August.
The Centre constituted a committee of officers on October 10 to suggest measures to raise revenue collection. A six-point agenda listed in the order asked officials to suggest ways to carry out systemic changes in the tax system, including checks and balances to prevent misuse, and suggest measures to improve voluntary compliance and compliance monitoring to check evasion, expand tax base, better administrative coordination, and suggest relevant changes needed in the law.
The increase in November collections came amid a slowdown in Indian economy. Gross Domestic Product growth contracted to 4.5% in the July-September quarter – the slowest growth rate in more than six years, and the sixth straight quarter of slowdown.
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