India's GST revenue collection for August slows to Rs 90,669 crore

India’s GST collections in August have come in lower than July figures, CNBC TV18 reported on Tuesday.

Collections under the new indirect tax regime came in at Rs 90,669 crore for August, above the market estimate of Rs 80,000-85,000 crore but lower than the Rs 94,063 crore collected last month.

Of the total revenue collected for August, Rs 21,067 crore came from SGST, Rs 14,402 came from CGST and Rs 7,823 crore from GST compensation cess. IGST, which is imposed on inter-state movement of goods and imports, accounted for Rs 47,377 crore of the total GST collection.

In a statement following the release of collections data, the government said that a number of assessees have not filed GST returns for both July and August, CNBC reported. It also said that GST collections would be higher as and when compliance increases.

For August, only 37.6 lakh taxpayers out of a total 68.2 lakh registered taxpayers filed their GST. Compliance for the month stood at 55 percent, down from around 65 percent last month.

Last month, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that India’s GST collections of Rs 92,283 crore for July was above the government’s tax collection target for the month.

The tax mobilisation for July stood at 64.4 per cent of the 59.57 lakh taxpayers registered with the new Goods and Services Tax (GST). Jaitley had said that the mobilisation number would likely go up after all taxes are accounted for.