For the first time in 8 months GST collections cross ₹ 1 lakh crore in October

The goods and services tax (GST) collected in October rises to ₹1.05 lakh crore, crossing the ₹1 lakh crore mark for the first time since February 2020, reflecting a pick-up in economic activity and demand.

The Finance Ministry in a statement said on Sunday that the total number of GSTR-3B returns filed till October 31, 2020 is 80 lakh.

The gross GST revenue collected in October 2020 is ₹1,05,155 crore, of which CGST is ₹19,193 crore, SGST is ₹5,411 crore, IGST is ₹52,540 crore (including ₹23,375 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is ₹8,011 crore (including ₹932 crore collected on import of goods), the Ministry said.

The revenues for the month are 10% higher than ₹95,379 crore collected in the same month last year.

The GST collections fell from the psychologically important ₹1 lakh crore mark as the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 spread dented economic activity.

“The [tax collection] trend shows that it did decline for the past few months but it is not only on the path of recovery but is also picking up. In the month of September, GST collection was 4% higher than what was there in the corresponding period last year. In the month of October, it has risen by 10% year on year with a collection of above ₹1.05 lakh crore,” Finance



Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI.

GST revenue in February was ₹1.05 lakh crore, March ₹97,597 crore, April ₹32,172 crore, May ₹62,151 crore, June ₹90,917 crore, July ₹87,422 crore, August ₹86,449 crore and September ₹95,480 crore.

GST revenue had topped ₹1 lakh crore in 8 out of 12 months of 2019-20 fiscal.

Deloitte Senior Director M. S. Mani said the numbers indicate 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 unlockdown process across states gets translated into GST collection figures,” Mr. Mani said.

PwC India Partner and Leader Pratik Jain said 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’s not surprising that collection in October has exceeded ₹1 lakh crore.

“Given the festivities, collections in November could also be robust. We would need to see if this trend continues after November as well,” Mr. Jain added.

EY Tax Partner Abhishek Jain said that some potential reasons for this surge could be the splurged demand on account of the festivities and input tax credit/other similar reconciliations which were due for businesses in September.