U-shaped recovery in collecting evaded indirect taxes: Finance Ministry

The recovery of evaded indirect taxes shot up in 2018-19, after a low in 2017-18, the year when the goods and services tax (GST) was implemented. Recovery as a percentage of the evaded taxes dropped from 26% in 2016-17 to 14% in 2017-18. Then, it went up to 29% in 2018-19 (April to December period), the finance ministry said in a reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. 

However, the evasion is slated to grow more than twofold in two years, and about 50% in one year of GST implementation. It rose from Rs 23,619 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 48,555 in nine months of 2018-19. The evaded amount of Central GST detected is about Rs 15,278 crore. While the overall recovery amounts to Rs 13,908 crore, recovery under the CGST adds up to nearly Rs 10,000 crore. If the overall recovery rate is about 29%, the figure under CGST is 65%.