September's GST collection is highest this fiscal

The country's GST collections grew 4 per cent to a high of Rs 95,480 crore in September, indicating that economic recovery is in sight.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) mop-up in September 2019 stood at Rs 91,916 crore.

The finance ministry in a statement said the gross GST revenue collected in September 2020 is Rs 95,480 crore, out of which Central GST is Rs 17,741 crore, State GST is Rs  23,131 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 47,484 crore (including Rs 22,442 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 7,124 crore (including Rs 788 crore collected on import of goods).

In September 2020, the tax collections from import of goods and domestic transaction were 102 per cent and 105 per cent, respectively, of the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The collections in September 2020 is higher by 10 per cent over August mop up.

The GST revenue in April was Rs 32,172 crore, May (Rs 62,151 crore), June (Rs 90,917 crore), July (Rs 87,422 crore), August (Rs 86,449 crore).

PwC India Leader (Indirect Tax) Pratik Jain said with the festive season coming in, though muted, one would hope that collections would improve further.

Measures such as e-invoicing should also help plug the tax leakage, he added.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co partner Rajat Bose said: "The increase in the collection is an encouraging sign for the economy.

“It is expected that the revenue collection should continue to improve as we approach the festive season."

Deloitte India senior director M S Mani said a modest increase of 4 per cent in the GST collections compared to the previous year indicates that the economic recovery process is underway, with some key large states also reporting increased collections.

"If the present trends of GST collections continue, we should be hopeful of significant increases in the coming months based on the unlock steps taken in various states and the festival season ahead," Mani added.

EY Tax partner Abhishek Jain said with a significant part of the economy resuming operations and international trade gathering pace, the collections have shown decent growth.

"The increased revenues indicate reinstatement of normalcy in business operations and provides an in general optimistic outlook," Jain added.