GST mop up drops to Rs 93,960 crore, lowest this fiscal

GST mop up dropped to Rs 93,960 crore in August — the lowest monthly collection so far this fiscal, the Finance Ministry said here on Saturday.

The revenues collected in August are slightly lower than July collection of Rs 96,483 crore, and June collection of Rs 95,610 crore.

According to the Finance Ministry, the drop in GST collection was mainly on account of consumers deferring purchase of goods to avail the benefits of cut in tax rate effected by the GST Council in its meeting on July 21.

However, compliance improved as 67 lakh GSTR-3B or summary sales returns were filed during August, up from 66 lakh filed in July.

The August revenue collections reflect the purchase and sales activities conducted in the month of July.

Explaining reasons for the dip, the ministry said one of the main factors is probable

The GST Council had approved rate cut on 88 items, including sanitary napkins, fridge, small screen TV, washing machine, footwear, among others, was effective July 27.

Only 35 items were left in the highest tax bracket of 28% after the latest round of rate cuts.

“Since it would have taken some time for the market to pass on the benefit of reduced taxes, consumers would have postponed their decision to buy expecting the benefit. The actual impact of reduction of rate of taxes would be observed only from next month onwards as the rate reduction would have got affected only in last few days of the month,” the ministry said.