Falling inbound shipments cast a shadow on IGST and cess on imports

Imports were the only exception in the otherwise strong GST numbers in the first three months of the current financial year

The integrated goods and services tax (IGST) and cess on imports fell in June year-on-year. This was in contrast to the robust overall collections from GST in June. The reason was falling commodity prices and the government’s policy to substitute imports.
 

IGST on imports fell by 2.66 per cent to Rs 39,035 crore in June this year compared to Rs 40,102 crore in June 2022.

Cess on imports, imposed on goods such as cigarettes, automobiles, paan masala and tobacco, does not yield much.

Collections from this category fell by 14.11 per cent to Rs 1,028 crore in