GST November 18 Collections Drop To 97,637 Crores, Shortfall Continues

As many glitches and bugs keep coming to the fore in its effective implementation, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in November dropped to Rs 97,637 crore, lower than Rs 1 lakh crore collected the previous month.

This dip could be more of a worry for the Modi government at the centre than the states as the latter are kept covered and compensated for any shortfall from 14% annual growth.

Statistically, the total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for October up to November 30, 2018, is 69.6 lakh, the finance ministry said in a statement. Compensation released to states for August-September stood at Rs 11,922 crore.

Of the Rs 97,637 crore collected, central GST (CGST) collection is Rs 16,812 crore, state GST (SGST) is Rs 23,070 crore, integrated GST (IGST) is Rs 49,726 crore (including Rs 24,133 crore collected on imports) and cess is Rs 8,031 crore (including Rs 842 crore collected on imports).

The government has settled Rs 18,262 crore to CGST and Rs 15,704 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by central government and the state governments after regular settlement in November 2018 is Rs 35,073 crore for CGST and Rs 38,774 crore for SGST, the ministry added.

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The GST collections stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in April, Rs 94,016 crore in May, Rs 95,610 crore in June, Rs 96,483 crore in July, Rs 93,960 crore in August, Rs 94,442 crore in September and Rs 1,00,710 crore in October.

Although the GST collections have shrunk vis-a-vis the earlier month, but the solace for some in the government is that it is higher than the average monthly collection in the year and thus could eventually meet the target of 1 lakh crores per month.

On the contrary, ordinary prudence demands that any tax collections by the state whether direct or indirect, should show a rising curve, howsoever small the percentage rise may be. This though remains subjective to any abnormal swings due to likes of natural calamities such as Kerala Floods or any unprecedented happenings. This is the same “Rising Graph” measure that financial institutions use as one of the many input in their algorithms by including the annual returns of a company for the past 2 to 3 years  in determining the health of a company and thus its effective eligibility for loans or picking up stakes.