The Covid-19-induced shrinking of economic activity for the past few months has continued to have an impact on the government’s tax collections with revenue under the Goods and Services Tax (GST)falling far below the psychological level of Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 86,449 crore in August.This is second consecutive month of a fall in GST collections after the number crossed over Rs 90,000 crore in June.
The August collection, which is 88 per cent of last year’s number, is however, a recovery from the months of April and May when the Covid-induced lockdowns and severe disruptions in economic activities, resulting in GST collections nose-diving to all time low levels.
The GST collection for the month of April was Rs 32,294 crore which was a mere 28 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year and for May was Rs 62,009 crore, which was 62 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year.
Only in June, GST collections recovered to touch Rs 90,917 crore. However, they again fell to Rs 87,422 crore in July, before falling further in August.
“The revenues for the month are 88 per cent of the GST revenues in the same month last year.
It may also be noted that the taxpayers with a turnover less than Rs 5 crore continue to enjoy relaxation in filing of returns till September,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement, justifying the month-on-month fall in collections. Out of the total GST collection of Rs 86,449 crore for August, the CGST was Rs 15,906 crore, and the SGST was Rs 21,064 crore, an official statement said.