Delhi: Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections for the month of December rose to Rs 1.15 lakh crore, the highest ever since the implementation of the nationwide tax in July 2017. The previous monthly GST collection record was just short of Rs 1.14 lakh crore in April 2019.


The Finance Ministry on January 1 in a statement said the GST collection from the past four months shows a clear sign of economic recovery.  The Indian economy slowly came out of its biggest ever contraction in the April-June quarter, as the collections have been higher as compared to months from 2019. A much lower contraction in July-September meant that India was officially in a technical recession.


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"In line with the recent trend of recovery in the GST revenues, the revenues for the month of December 2020 are 11.6 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, revenues from import of goods were 27 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction were 8 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year," the ministry said.


Out of the headline amount, central GST collected was Rs 21,365 crore, state GST was Rs 27,804 crore, integrated GST was Rs 57,426 crore (including Rs 27,050 crore collected on import of goods) and compensation cess was Rs 8,579 crore. The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of November up to December 31, 2020, was 87 lakhs, the ministry said.


As per the estimates from the government, a total of Rs 44,641 crore for CGST and Rs 45,485 crore for SGST was earned by the center and the states after regular deductions in December 2020.


This was the first time the GST collections crossed the figure of Rs 1.15 lakhs, the ministry said.


"The December 2020 revenues are significantly higher than November revenues of Rs 1.05 lakh crore. This is the highest growth in monthly revenues since last 21 months," the statement said, and added that this was due to the combined effect of the rapid economic recovery post-Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide drive against GST evaders and fake bills along with many systemic changes which led to improved compliance.


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"Till now, GST revenues have crossed Rs 1.1 lakh crore three times since introduction of GST. This is the third month in a row in the current financial year after the economy showed signs of recovery post the pandemic that the GST revenues have been more than Rs 1 lakh crore," the ministry said.


The ministry also said that months of October-December saw a rise in the GST collections from 7.3 per cent as compared to negative 8.2 per cent during July-September.