Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections narrowly missed crossing the ₹1 lakh-crore mark in June 2019, coming in at ₹99,939 crore, according to data released by the government on Monday.
“Total gross GST revenue collected in June 2019 is ₹99,939 crore, of which CGST is ₹18,366 crore, SGST is ₹25,343 crore, IGST is ₹47,772 crore and Cess is ₹8,457 crore,” the government said.
“The total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the month of May up to June 30 is ₹74.38 lakh,” it said.
While the collections in June 2019 are 4.5% higher than the collections in June 2018, they are still below collections in the first two months (April & May) of this financial year, and in the last month (March) of the previous financial year.
The government collected ₹1.06 lakh crore in March, ₹1.13 lakh crore in April — the highest-ever collection — and ₹1 lakh crore in May.
“The marginal dip in collections reinforces the point there is very little headroom at present for any further rate reductions,” M.S. Mani, partner at Deloitte India, said. “The lower-than-expected collections would lead to more analysis of the data available with the GSTN [GST Network] to detect and plug any leakages.”
No single rate: Jaitley
Meanwhile, former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in a blog post to commemorate two years of GST, on Monday, wrote that a single rate under the GST system would not be possible in a country with poor people.
He added that the increasing collections have meant that 20 States currently do not need any compensation from the Centre for any revenue loss they might have incurred due to GST. “Those who argued for a single slab GST must realise that a single slab is possible only in extremely affluent countries where there are no poor people,” Mr. Jaitley, who was the Finance Minister for the bulk of the first two years of GST, wrote. “It would be inequitable to apply a single rate in countries where there are a large number of people below the poverty line.”
However, Mr Jaitley did note that this did not mean that rate rationalisations would not take place.
“That process is already on. Except on luxury and sin goods, the 28% slab has almost been phased out. Zero and 5% slabs will always remain. As revenue increases further, it will give an opportunity to policy makers to possibly merge the 12% and 18% slab into one rate, thus, effectively making the GST a two-rate tax.”
The government on Monday celebrated two years of GST at an event presided over by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur.
