GST collection rises marginally in July

Revenue collections from goods and services tax (GST) rose marginally to Rs 96,483 crore in July, from Rs 95,610 crore in the previous month, on the back of improved compliance of the e-way bill, which has been made mandatory for moving goods worth Rs 50,000 crore in the country.

As many as 66 lakh businesses filed returns last month, making it the highest number of monthly GSTR-3B filed since the rollout of GST in July last year.

"The total gross GST revenue collected in July 2018 is Rs 96,483 crore. This is broadly on expected lines," a finance ministry statement said.

In the current fiscal, the month-wise revenue mopped up from GST stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in April, Rs 94,016 crore in May and Rs 95,610 crore in June. As many as 60.47 lakh returns were filed in April, 62.47 lakh in May, 64.69 lakh in June.

GST revenue collections are improving after implementation of e-way bill, which is a major tool in checking tax evasion.

"However the government is still short of average monthly target of revenue fixed in Budget of 2018-19," Taxmann DGM Vishal Raheja said.

Experts expressed apprehensions that GST collections in the coming months may decline as the impact of tax rate cut on 88 products would be felt in the returns filed in August.

"It is estimated that the rate cuts may lead to reduction of GST by approximately Rs 1,000 crore per month. However, this reduction may be offset against the increased demands of these high price sensitive products, Khaitan & Co Partner Abhishek A Rastogi said.

"The benefits of the e-way bill and formalisation of the economy after the transition to the GST, as well as the seasonal uptrend in consumption toward the later part of the year, particularly during the festive season, should minimise the gap between the FY2019 Budget Estimate and the actual collections for Central GST and Integrated GST," said Aditi Nayar, vice-president at Icra.

Of the collections for July, central GST accounted for Rs 15,877 crore, state GST (Rs 22,293 crore), IGST (Rs 49,951 crore) and cess is Rs 8,362 crore (including Rs 794 crore collected on imports). Also, Rs 3,899 crore has been released to states as GST compensation for April-May, 2018.