GST collection in September crosses Rs 1.17 lakh crore

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The Goods and Services Tax collections for September came in at Rs 1.17 lakh crore, compared with Rs 1.12 lakh crore in August, the Finance Ministry said on October 1.

This takes the total GST collection for the first half of fiscal year 2021-22 (April-September) to Rs 6.82 lakh crore. This is the third consecutive month that GST collections are above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark, indicating that economic recovery post the second wave of the Covid-19 is well underway.

"The GST collection figures indicate that growth of the economy is leading to stable collections, which would help in achieving the fiscal deficit target of 6.8% of GDP," said MS Mani, Senior Director, Deloitte India on GST collections.

"Most of the key manufacturing states reporting a growth of 20 percent plus compared to last year does indicate that an economic revival is clearly in progress across key states," Mani said.

Out of the total collection  for September, Central GST was Rs 20,578 crore, State GST was Rs 26,767 crore, Integrated GST was Rs 60,911 crore and Cess was Rs 8,754 crore.

"The revenues for the month of September 2021 are 23 percent higher than in the same month last year. During the month, revenues from import of goods were 30 percent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction were 20 percent higher," the Finance Ministry said in its statement.

"The buoyancy in GST collection is a good indicator of economic recovery. 23 percent growth over September 2020 is impressive. As the festive season starts, GST collections should also see a rise in the near future," said Rajat Bose, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co.

The Ministry said that the average monthly gross GST collection for the second quarter of the current year has been ₹ 1.15 lakh crore, which is 5 percent higher than the average monthly collection of ₹ 1.10 lakh crore in the first quarter of the year.

GST collections had been consistently well above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark from October 2020 to May 2021. However, it slipped to Rs 92,849 crore in June, reflecting the economic disruption caused by the second wave.