July GST collection tumbles 14% to Rs 87,422 cr as Covid-19 hits economy

The Covid-induced shrinking of economic activity for the past few months continued to have its impact on government's tax collections with revenue under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) falling far below the psychological level of Rs 1 trillion to Rs 87,422 crore in July.

The July collections, which is 84 per cent of last year's numbers, is however, a recovery from the months of April and May when Covid-19 induced lockdowns and severe disruptions in economic activities resulting in GST collections nosediving to all time low levels.

The GST collections for the month of April was Rs 32,294 crore which was mere 28 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year and the GST collections for the month of May was Rs 62,009 crore which was 62 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year.

Only in June GST collections recovered to touch Rs 90,917 crore.

"The revenues for the last month (June) were higher than the current month. However, it is important to note that during the previous month, a large number of taxpayers also paid taxes pertaining to February, March and April 2020 on account of the relief provided due to Covid-19. It may also be noted that the taxpayers with turnover less than Rs 5 crore continue to enjoy relaxation in filing of returns till September 2020," the finance ministry said in a statement.

Out of the total GST collection of Rs 87,422 crore for July, CGST was Rs 16,147 crore, SGST was Rs 21,418 crore, the official statement said.

IGST collections stood at Rs 42,592 crore (including Rs 20,324 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess collected was Rs 7,265 crore (including Rs 807crore collected on import of goods).

The government has settled Rs 23,320 crore to CGST and Rs 18,838 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by central government and the state governments after regular settlement in the month of July, 2020 is Rs 39,467 crore for CGST and Rs 40,256 crore for the SGST.

During July, the revenues from import of goods were 84 per cent and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) were 96 per cent of the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The revenues during the financial year has been impacted due to Covid-19, firstly due to the economic impact of the pandemic and secondly due to the relaxations given by the Government in filing of returns and payment of taxes due to the pandemic. However, figures of past four months show recovery in GST revenues.

Among the states, July collections have declined most in Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal. Only states of Rajasthan, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have shown growth of GST revenue or have maintained same levels as last year in July.