Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections dipped to ₹97,000 crore in February, as against over ₹1 lakh crore in January.
With this, the possibility of a shortfall in Budget Estimates has gone up. Initially it was estimated that monthly collections could be in the range of ₹1-1.10 lakh crore. However, during the current fiscal there have been only three instances when monthly collections have touched or crossed ₹1 lakh crore.
Less number of days in February could be the reason for lower collections. Finance Ministry officials are confident that mobilisation will increase in the current month.
According to a Ministry statement, the total gross GST revenue collected in the month of February was ₹97,247 crore of which CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax) was ₹17,626 crore, SGST (State Goods and Services Tax) was ₹24,192 crore, IGST (Integrated Goods and Services tax) was ₹46,953 crore (including ₹21,384 crore collected on imports) and cess was ₹8,476 crore (including ₹910 crore collected on imports).
Number of returns
The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the month of January up to February 28 is 73.48 lakh. The government has settled ₹19,470 crore to CGST and ₹15,747 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by the Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of February is ₹37,095 crore for CGST and ₹39,939 crore for the SGST. The revenue in February last year was ₹85,962 crore, and the revenue during February this year is a growth of 13.12 per cent over the revenue in the same month last year.
Commenting on the latest trend, MS Mani, Partner at Deloitte India, said the marginal drop in the February GST collections compared to January could be on account of the full-month effects of the earlier rate reductions.