Collection from the goods and services tax (GST) was above Rs 1 trillion in July, mainly on account of higher mop-up under the integrated GST.

However, the central and state portions remained subdued, posing a challenge for the revenue target for the financial year.

GST collection at Rs 1.02 trillion in the month was slightly more than 2 per cent higher than the Rs 99,939 crore in June and 5.8 per cent higher than the Rs 96,483 crore in July last year. However, Central GST collection was just Rs 17,912 crore in July, down from Rs 18,366 crore in June.

State GST collection too was lower at Rs 25,008 crore in the month against Rs 25,343 crore in June.

It was the IGST that rose to Rs 50,612 crore against Rs 47,772 crore in this period.

Subdued revenue collection poses challenges for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with a growth target of 16 per cent for the central GST in 2019-20, reinforcing the need for emphasis on data intelligence and policies to plug leakages.

The CGST collection target was revised downwards to Rs 5.26 trillion for the fiscal year from the Rs 6.1 trillion estimated in the Interim Budget, following a 9 per cent shortfall in collection in the previous year.

“GST collection for the month, despite being more than Rs 1 trillion, would be a matter of concern because this is lower than the Budget estimate. Collection needs to be correlated to the economic situation,” said M S Mani, senior director, Deloitte India.

The government is working on measures to stop tax evasion — including data analysis, new return formats, the e-way bill, the proposed e-invoicing system, and mandatory e-ticketing for movie theatres.

Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY, said: “The next uptick in collection is expected with the launch of the new return formats and related restricted credit availability only on the matching of it with corresponding disclosures by suppliers, and verification of annual returns/audit reports submitted for FY17-18, etc.”

The compensation cess stood at Rs 8,551 crore, a shade higher than the Rs 8,457 crore in June.

Published On : 02-08-2019

Source : Business Standard