Government achieves record high collection of GST in March 2021

The goods and services tax (GST) collection in March this year attained a record high of Rs 1.23 lakh crore, according to data released by the finance ministry. It crossed above Rs 1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months.

The finance ministry said the steep increase trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic. “Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, income tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months.”

The government has settled Rs 21,879 crore to CGST and Rs 17,230 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. In addition, the Centre has also settled Rs 28,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between the Centre and States/UTs. The total revenue, after regular and ad-hoc settlements, in the month of March 2021 is Rs 58,852 crore for CGST and Rs 60,559 crore for the SGST. And in line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of March 2021 are 27% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year.

Data shows that the GST revenue witnessed a growth rate of (-) 41%, (-) 8%, 8% and 14% in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of this financial year, respectively, as compared to the same period last year, clearly indicating the trend in recovery of GST revenues as well as the economy as a whole.

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The finance ministry said closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analystics using data from multiple sources, including GST, income tax, and Customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months.