GST revenue collections show positive growth after two months; will act as sentiment booster, say analysts

The GST revenue collection crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark after a gap of three months in November with the revenue growing by 6 percent to Rs 1.03 lakh crore in the month. The positive growth, a possible sign of recovery, has come after two months of negative growth. During the month of November, the GST collection on domestic transactions witnessed a growth of 12 percent, highest during the year. The GST collection on imports continued to see negative growth at (-)13 percent. “The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November, 2019 is Rs 1,03,492 crore of which CGST is Rs 19,592 crore, SGST is Rs 27,144 crore, IGST is Rs 49,028 crore (including Rs 20,948 crore collected on imports) and cess is Rs 7,727 crore (including Rs 869 crore collected on imports),” a Finance Ministry statement said. The total number of GSTR 3B Returns, summary monthly returns, filed for the month of October up to 30th November, 2019 was 77.83 lakh. [caption id=“attachment_4799391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. News18.[/caption] This is the eighth time since the roll-out of GST in July, 2017 that monthly collection has crossed the mark of Rs 1 lakh crore. Also, November 2019 collection is the third highest monthly collection since introduction of GST, next only to April 2019 and March 2019 collections. The GST collection was Rs 95,380 crore in October while it was Rs 97,637 crore November 2018. Of gross Rs 1,03,492 crore in November, CGST is Rs 19,592 crore, SGST is Rs 27,144 crore, IGST is Rs 49,028 crore (including Rs 20,948 crore collected on imports) and Cess is Rs 7,727 crore (including Rs 869 crore collected on imports), an official statement said. After two months of negative growth, the GST revenue witnessed an impressive recovery with a growth of 6 per cent in November 2019 over the November 2018 collections, it said.

Gross #GST revenue collected in #November stands at Rs 1.03 lk cr, third highest since GST was introduced.

November CGST at Rs 19,592 cr, SGST at Rs 27,144 cr, IGST at Rs 49,028 cr, cess at Rs 7,727 cr including Rs 869 cr collected on imports. pic.twitter.com/PdIYeyXQoH

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 1, 2019

During the month, the GST collection on domestic transactions witnessed a growth of 12 percent, the highest during the year, it added. M S Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said, “crossing Rs 1 trillion in a festive month after a few months of tepid collections would act as sentiment-booster and help in keeping the fiscal deficit under control- hoping that this trend continues in the coming months." Ramaratnam Muralidharan, Senior Director, Deloitte India: “After subdued collections during the previous 3 months, the November collections is a shade better. However it is too early to draw any conclusions whether the collections are on a growth path. The increase to some extent may be due to the additional spending in October due to Diwali the GST with respect to which get reflected in November collections. We need to wait and see for the next 2-3 months if the impact of better tax compliance is able to result in consistent higher collections." --With inputs from agencies (With data support by Kishor Kadam)