NEW DELHI: Even as Goods and Services Tax revenue fell owing to Covid-led disruptions, the indirect tax collections for 2020-21 grew 12.3 per cent to Rs 10.71 lakh crore as against Rs 9.54 lakh crore in 2019-20. The mop-up during the year ended March also exceeded the revised estimates of Rs 9.89 lakh crore, showed provisional data released by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday.
“Provisional net indirect tax revenue collections including GST, customs, central excise and service tax arrears for FY21 stood at Rs 10.71 lakh crore, registering more than 12 percent growth year-on-year. Revised estimates for FY21 have been exceeded by 8.2 per cent,” said M Ajit Kumar, chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs while addressing a media briefing.
Out of the total indirect tax collections, custom duty collections came in at Rs 1.32 lakh crore as against a revised target of Rs 1.12 lakh crore and excise and service tax collections came at Rs 3.91 lakh crore compared with a target of Rs 3.62 lakh crore. Net GST collection for the Centre, however, stood at Rs 5.48 lakh crore, falling 8 per cent over the previous financial year. Revised estimates of net GST collection, including CGST and compensation cess, was Rs 5.15 lakh crore for FY21.
While GST collections were severely affected in the first half of the financial year, the second half saw good growth with collections exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore in each of the six months. Further, the record GST revenue collected in March has largely helped the government exceed its revised estimate.
“Most of the sectors of the economy have bounced back after a difficult phase. Metals, white goods, automobiles, cement, chemicals, electronics have shown good growth,” said Kumar. Despite fresh cases of Covid-19, Kumar added that the government is confident of meeting its targets for 2021-22 mainly on account of better compliance. “We anticipate a healthy growth in revenue as compliance improves further and the economy grows much faster,” Kumar pointed out.