Budget eve cheer for FM | January 2021 GST collection touches record Rs 1.20 lakh crore

Discussions to extend the GST compensation cess levied on items such as cars are also on.

The GST revenue collected for the month of January 2021 has touched nearly Rs 1.20 lakh crore. This is the highest GST revenue the government has collected since the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax regime.

The Ministry of Finance said on January 31: "The Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collected in the month of January 2021 till 6 PM on January 31 is Rs 1,19,847 crores."

The GST revenues for the month of January are eight percent higher than the revenues collected in the same month last year. In January 2020, the government had garnered around Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

The revenues earned from import of goods are also 16 percent higher than the revenue earned from this source in January 2020. Additionally, the revenues collected from domestic transaction (including import of services) are six percent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
The Finance Ministry has said that the government earning “GST revenues above Rs 1 lakh crore for a stretch of last four months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic."

It added: “Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, Income-tax and Customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months.”

With this record GST collection, the Centre may be able to bridge the shortfall in the state GST to a minimal Rs 11,000 crore, an SBI research has stated.

Last month, i.e., in December 2020 also, the Finance Ministry has announced record collections of Rs 1.15 lakh crore.