GST collections seen rising above Rs1,10,000 cr per month

“I assure you that average monthly GST collection will cross Rs1,10,000 crore,” Goyal said, speaking at the government’s ‘GST Day’ celebrations to mark one year of the indirect tax regime. “I feel more than Rs13 lakh crore revenue will come from GST this fiscal.”

The finance minister also said there was scope for further rationalisation of the tax rates if tax compliance improved and the e-waybill system settled down.

“The more people get into the honest and transparent system and with the success of e-waybill system, we will be in a better position to rationalise tax slabs,” Goyal said. “The different rate slabs were kept after considering the social structure of the nation. Is it proper to tax luxury cars and items of common items used by poor people?”

A year after GST was introduced, businesses, especially some of those from the 70 million small and medium enterprises, also say that while the new indirect tax regime took some time getting used to, its benefits cannot be ignored.

Chandrakant Salunkhe, president of the SME Development Chamber of India said notwithstanding initial hiccups, the new tax regime has furthered the government’s ease-of-doing business initiative and nudged small businesses improve their business practices.

SMEs don’t have the manpower. It was difficult for them to visit different offices – VAT, excise, service tax etc – in the pre-GST regime. Now they are smoothly running their businesses. It has also helped them improve their turnover since all transactions are coming on their books.