In an indication that the Covid’s second wave has little impact on businesses so far, the government collected the highest ever goods and services tax revenue of Rs 1.41 lakh crore in April.
Data since October 2020 shows the GST revenues have not only crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark successively for the last seven months but have also shown a steady increase, a clear indication of sustained economic recovery during the pandemic.
In April last year, the revenue had fallen to a record low of Rs 32,172 crore, after the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. As economic activity picked up, GST collections started crossing the Rs 1 lakh crore mark since October last year.
Tax experts, however, said the real challenge lies ahead as most parts of the country are again in a lockdown and most industries are temporarily shut.
"The collections figures for April represent the tax collected towards transactions done in the month of March 2021. Since its the year end, most companies close their books and raise invoices during the financial close. That is perhaps one of the reasons for the spurt in GST collections in April. The real challenge lies ahead…,” said Rajat Bose, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.
M S Mani, Senior Director, Deloitte India said, “the all-time high collections which relates to supplies made in March 2021 could now give way to muted collections in the coming months due to the lower economic activities in April. The continuing focus on improving compliance and the steps taken to curb evasion appears to be significantly improving the GST collections.”
Finance ministry sources said closer monitoring against fake billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, Income-tax and Customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady rise in the indirect tax revenue.
In another indication of robust recovery in industrial and commercial demand, the electricity consumption in the country grew 41% April to 119.27 billion units (BU) over the same month last year.
Power consumption in April last year was recorded at 84.55 BU.
On the other hand, peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, during the first half of this month remained well above the highest record of 132.20 GW in April 2020.