Narendra Modi-led central government received a major boost ahead of next month’s annual budget as gross receipts collected for Goods and Service Tax (GST) rose in December 2017 after a concerning two-month decline.
Receipt for December last year stood at Rs. 86,703 crores as on the 24th of this month. This is a significant improvement from November’s Rs. 80,808 crore and October’s Rs. 83,000 crore. These numbers are still small when compared to Rs. 92,000 crore collected in September 2017.
The government expects revenue to increase even further next month onwards once interstate e-way bills are introduced. Recent changes made by the GST Council in reallocating many items under lower tax bases will also contribute to rising collections.
Despite improvements, the government has still not been able to meet its targets. Large manufacturing states like Maharashtra and Karnataka have faced shortages in revenue and are expected to seek a greater share of collections from the central government.
The Finance Ministry pegged total returns filed by composition dealers for October-December quarter at 9.25 lakhs, which amounts to Rs. 422 crore in collections. Despite a rise in the total indirect collection during this period, receipts still remained 4.7% below the monthly target for December.