On the back of various government measures to improve compliance, goods and service tax collections in February totaled Rs 1.13 lakh crore, up 7% from the same month last year. The department of revenue announced on Monday that revenue collection had surpassed Rs 1 lakh crore for the fifth time in a row and had surpassed Rs 1.1 lakh crore for the third time in a row following the pandemic.
In a statement, the department said, “This is a clear indication of the economic recovery and the impact of various measures taken by tax administration to improve compliance.” Central GST was Rs 21,092 crore, state GST was Rs 27,273 crore, integrated GST was Rs 55,253 crore, including Rs 24,382 crore collected on imports of goods, and CESS was Rs 9,525 crore, including Rs 660 crore collected on imports of goods, of the gross GST revenue of Rs 1.13 lakh crore collected in February 2021. As part of the regular settlement, the government has paid Rs 22,398 crore to the CGST and Rs 17,534 crore to the SGST from the IGST.
In addition, the Centre has settled an IGST ad hoc settlement of Rs 48,000 crore in a 50:50 split between the Centre and the states and union territories. After regular and ad-hoc settlements in February 2021, the total revenue of the Centre and the states is Rs 67,490 crore for the CGST and Rs 68,807 crore for the SGST. Separately, the government paid the states Rs 4,000 crore in the 18th weekly installment to cover the GST compensation shortfall, bringing the total amount paid to Rs 1.04 lakh crore.
In October 2020, the government created a special borrowing window to cover a revenue shortfall of Rs 1.1 lakh crore projected as a result of the GST implementation. The borrowing is done on behalf of the states through this window by the Centre. So far, 94 percent of the total Rs 1.1 lakh crore GST compensation shortfall has been released. The states have been given an additional borrowing authorization of Rs 1,06,830 crore, which is equal to 0.5% of their gross domestic product.
