BENGALURU: The GST collection in Karnataka has seen a strong upward movement, increasing from about Rs 8,200 crore in October 2021 to Rs 9,048 crore by November 30, 2021. Compared to the GST collection in November last year which was Rs 6,915 crore there is a 31 per cent growth.
Even as the state and country are facing Omicron fears, economists said that the northward movement in GST collection is here to stay. The fundamentals are strong and GST collections may even come close to the Rs 10,000 crore mark in December or January next year if the growth rate continues, they added.
‘Focus is now on tax evaders’
But well-known economist Prof RS Deshpande was cautiously optimistic. “It is true that GST collection in the middle range, which is larger, has improved because of the improvement in business. But GST collection from the higher-end real estate sector is not on the expected lines and it will need a greater boost to grow.
‘’ Member of the GST Consultative Committee, state government, BT Manohar said, “Tax compliance is encouraging. Relaxation on work from home, festival season, a reasonable increase in business and service activity, initiation of enforcement, steps to reform compliance in filing of returns due and improvement in purchasing options by consumers are some of the factors for improved GST collection.
Tax reforms for ease of doing business will pave way for greater economic development. Efforts to detect evasion have helped.” Commercial Tax Commissioner C Shikha said commercial tax department sleuths and enforcement teams are focusing on evaders and incidents of evasion.
Industrialist J Crasta, who formerly headed KASSIA and FKCCI, said, “GDP growth for Q1 was 20.1 per cent and Q2 it was 8.4 per cent. It is expected to grow at 9.6 per cent for Q3. Also the compliance rate has gone up as artificial intelligence is being used in the GST portal. That is the reason for last month’s collection of Rs 1.3 lakh crore at the all-India level.”
GST kitty at Rs 1.31 L cr
GST collections in India jumped to over Rs 1.31 lakh crore in November, the second highest since its implementation in 2017, in line with the recovery, the Centre said on Wednesday.