GST collections at Rs 94,016 cr in May

The mop-up from Goods and Services Tax in May stood at Rs 94,016 crore, better than the monthly average collections last fiscal, but below the record Rs 1.03 lakh crore collected in the previous month.

However, as many as 62.47 lakh businesses filed their summary sales return GSTR-3B in May, higher than 60.47 lakh filed in April.

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that the total GST collection for May is higher compared to average monthly collection of Rs 89,885 crores of 2017-18.

"This reflects better compliance after introduction of e-way bills," tweeted Adhia, who is also the Revenue Secretary.

Electronic way or e-way bill system was launched on April 1 for movement of goods within the states. The requirement of e-way bill for intra-state movement of goods was launched in a phased manner beginning April 15.

Touted as an anti-evasion measure, transporters of goods worth over Rs 50,000 would be required to present e-way bill to a GST inspector, if asked. The measure was expected to help boost tax collections by clamping down on trade that was happening on cash basis.

The finance ministry in a statement said the total gross GST revenue collected in May 2018 is Rs 94,016 crore, of which CGST is Rs 15,866 crore, SGST Rs 21,691 crore, IGST Rs 49,120 crore and cess Rs 7,339 crore.

"Though current month's revenue collection is less compared to last month's revenue, still the gross revenue collection in the month of May (Rs 94,016 crore) is much higher than the monthly average of GST collection in the last Financial Year (Rs 89,885 crore). The April revenue figure was higher because of year end effect," the ministry said.

As much as Rs 6,696 crore has been released to the states as GST compensation for March 2018, as on May 29.

Therefore, the total GST compensation released to the states for the FY 2017-18 (July 2017 to March 2018) has been Rs 47,844 crore, the ministry said.

PwC India Partner and Leader Indirect Tax Pratik Jain said: "Now that intra state e-way bill system have also been introduced in most states, one could expect some incremental impact on revenues in next couple of months".