The Goods and Services Tax collections in April touched an all time high of over Rs 1.41 lakh crore. However, analysts expect collections to fall in the coming months because of regional lockdowns in the country.

The revenues for the month of April 2021 are 14 per cent higher than Rs 1.23 lakh crore collected in March, the finance ministry said on Saturday. During the month, revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 21 per cent higher over the last month.

M.S. Mani, senior director, Deloitte India, said: “The all-time high collections which relates to supplies made in March 21 could now give way to muted collections in the coming months because of lower economic activity in April. The continuing focus on improving compliance and the steps taken to curb evasion have significantly helped the GST collections.”

“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,” the ministry said.

Rajat Bose, partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, said: “The collections for April represent the tax collected towards transactions done in the month of March 2021. Since it is 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 as most parts of the country are again in a lockdown and most industries are temporarily shut.”

Gross GST revenue collected in the month of April 2021 is at a record high of Rs 1,41,384 crore, of which CGST is Rs 27,837 crore, SGST Rs 35,621 crore, IGST Rs 68,481 crore, (including Rs 29,599 crore collected on import of goods) and cess Rs 9,445 crore (including Rs 981 crore collected on import of goods).

Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY, said: “The all time high GST collections are extremely encouraging and seem to be the outcome of an uptick in economic recovery and anti evasion measures of the government such as e invoicing, data analytics led investigations and also year end audit and financial closure of the companies as on March 2021. However, the collections may experience a decline in the coming months.”

Advance to states

The finance ministry has released in advance to the states the first instalment of Rs 8,873.6 crore of the state disaster response fund (SDRF) for the current fiscal. Up to 50 per cent of the amount released, which is Rs 4,436.8 crore, can be used by the states for Covid-19 containment measures.

Normally, the first instalment of SDRF is released in June. “However, in relaxation of normal procedure, not only has the release of SDRF been advanced, the amount has also been released without waiting for the utilisation certificate of the amount provided to the states in the last financial year,” the ministry said.

The funds from the SDRF may be used by the states for various measures related to the containment of Covid-19, including meeting the cost of oxygen generation and storage plants in hospitals.