Business / GST collections in March fall below ₹1 lakh cr after 4 months at ₹97,597 cr

New Delhi: Goods and services tax collections for March, 2020 stood at ₹97,597 crore, lower than ₹1.05 lakh crore collected in February, 2020. Until February, GST collections crossed ₹1 lakh crore for four consecutive months.

Of the total ₹97,597 crore, central GST stood at ₹19,183 crore, state GST at ₹25,601 cr, integrated GST is ₹44,508 cr, which included ₹18,056 cr collected on imports and compensation cess is ₹8,306 crore, which included ₹841 crore collected on imports, the revenue department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of February up to 31 March, 2020 is 7.65 million. Here's a chart that shows trends in monthly gross GST revenues during the current year.

The GST revenues during the month of March, 2020 from domestic transactions has shown a negative growth of 4% over the revenue during the month of March, 2019. For the full financial year, 2019-20, the GST for domestic transaction has shown a growth rate of 8% over the revenues during last year. During the year, GST from import on goods fell down by 8% as compared to last year. Overall, gross GST revenues grew at 4% over the last year’s GST revenue.

“In spite of the higher target, GST collection for March 2020 is ₹97597 and it is lowest in the last quarter because of lower collections due to pandemic lockdown as expected. We will see a higher fall in GST collection in the coming months as most of the businesses are closed down. The domestic market, as well as the international market, is uncertain, so the government should be more cautious for setting the target for the next quarter," said Kapil Rana, Chairman and Founder, HostBooks Limited.