December GST collection hits a record 1.15 lakh crore
04 Jan 2021
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Revenue collected by way of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rose to an all-time high of Rs1.15 lakh crore in December as economic activities picked up in the festival season after the government lifted lockdown restrictions imposed in the wake of the corona virus pandemic.
GST revenue for November, collected in December, stood at Rs1,15,174 crore, according to a finance ministry statement. That was 10 per cent higher than the GST mop=up of the previous month — the highest amount collected as GST revenue so far after its introduction.
At Rs1,15,174 crore, gross GST revenue collected in December 2020 was also 12 per cent higher than GST revenues in the same month last year.
Of the gross Rs1,15,174 crore GST revenue collected in December 2020, CGST accounted for Rs21,365 crore, SGST for Rs27,804 crore, IGST for Rs57,426 crore (including Rs27,050 crore collected on import of goods) and cess of Rs8,579 crore (including Rs971 crore collected on import of goods). The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of November up to 31 December 2020 stood at 8.7 million.
The government has allocated Rs23,276 crore to CGST and Rs17,681 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by central government and the state governments after regular settlement in the month of December 2020 is Rs44,641 crore for CGST and Rs45,485 crore for the SGST.
During December 2020, revenue from import of goods was 27 per cent higher and revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) were 8 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
The previous highest GST collection was Rs1,13,866 crore collected in April 2019. The December 2020 revenues are significantly higher than last month’s revenues of ? 1,04.963 crore. This is the highest growth in monthly revenues over the last 21 months. This has been due to combined effect of the rapid economic recovery post pandemic and the nation-wide drive against GST evaders and fake bills alongwith many systemic changes introduced recently, which have led to improved compliance.
Till now, GST revenues have crossed Rs1.1 lakh crore level three times since introduction of GST. GST revenues have been showing steady rise over the past three months with the economy also showing signs of recovery.
GST revenues have been above Rs1 lakh crore since the end of lockdown restrictions while the average growth in GST revenues during the last quarter has been 7.3 per cent compared to (-) 8.2 per cent during the second quarter and (-) 41 per cent during the first quarter of the financial year.
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