Centre gains record GST revenue of over ₹1 lakh crore for the first time in March

The GST revenue for the month is also 27 per cent higher than the revenue earned last year in the same month.

The Centre on Thursday announced that the GST revenue of ₹1,23,902 crore during the month of March has been the highest since the introduction of the new tax regime. The GST revenue for the month is also 27 per cent higher than the revenue earned last year in the same month and shows the trend of recovery over the past five months.

GST collection in January 2021 is ₹1,19,847 crore, an 8.15% jump from ₹1,10,818 crore collected in January 2020.(Mint)

The GST revenue for March 2021 broke all record by crossing the ₹1 lakh crore mark as it recorded the GST revenue of ₹123,902 crore of which CGST amounted to ₹22,973 crore and SGST amounted to ₹29,329 crore and IGST of ₹62,842 crore (including ₹31,097 crore on import of goods). Cess of ₹8,757 crore (Including ₹935 crore on import of goods) is also included in the revenue collection.

“GST revenues crossed above ₹1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post-pandemic,” the Union ministry of finance said on Thursday.

The record high in the revenue comes after the growth rate in the first, second, third and fourth quarter of this financial year stood at (-) 41%, (-) 8%, 8% and 14% respectively, hence indicating recovery.

Ladakh has contributed significantly to the rise in the revenue collection in March as the growth rate of the Union territory has reported to grow 1,527 per cent between March 2020 and March 2021. On the other hand, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu have recorded a negative growth rate of 33 and 97 per cent, respectively.

The government also informed that the revenue from the import of goods for March 2020 was 70 per cent higher than that of the previous year and the revenue from domestic transactions including import of services rose 17 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

The government has settled over ₹21,000 crore to CGST and more than ₹17,000 crore to SGST from IGST as a regular settlement with the settlement of ₹28,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between Centre and states/UTs. After all the settlements, the revenue of the Centre and the states for the month of March stands at ₹58,852 crore from CGST and ₹60,559 crore from SGST.