NEW DELHI: The new financial year opened on a positive note for the economy as Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore in April. However, the government clarified that the April collection could not be taken as a trend for future months.
Gross GST revenue collected in the month of April stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore, according to official data released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.
Central GST stood at Rs 18,652 crore, State GST was Rs 25,704 crore, Integrated GST was Rs 50,548 crore (including Rs 21,246 crore collected on imports) and cess was at Rs 8,554 crore — including Rs 702 crore collected on imports.
“The buoyancy in GST revenue reflects an upswing in the economy and better compliance,” the statement said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said it was a landmark achievement and a confirmation of increased economic activity.
“GST collections in April exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore is a landmark achievement and a confirmation of increased economic activity as brought out by other reports,” Jaitley tweeted. He stressed that increased tax collections would help the nation to expand its economic horizons and take it to loftier heights.
However, the finance ministry underlined that it should not be taken as a future trend.
“It is usually noticed that in the last month of the financial year, people also try to pay arrears of some of the previous months and, therefore, this month’s revenue cannot be taken as a trend for the future,” the ministry said.
The GST collection in 2017-18 stood at Rs 7.41 lakh crore, and the average monthly collection under the GST regime for the last eight months—August 2017-March 2018—was Rs 89,885 crore.
AS far as GSTR 3B returns for the period between March and April 30 are concerned, 60.47 lakh (69.5 per cent) eligible taxpayers had filed returns.
April was also the month for filing of quarterly returns for composition dealers. Out of 19.31 lakh composition dealers, 11.47 lakh filed their quarterly return (GSTR 4) and paid a total tax of Rs 579 crore, which is included in the Rs 1.03 lakh crore of total GST collection.