The gross GST collection in August stood at Rs 86,449 crore, down from Rs 87,422 crore collected in July, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

The revenues for August are 88 per cent of the GST collected in the same month last year. In August 2019, Rs 98,202 crore was mopped up as Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Rajat Bose, partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, said: “The collections in August, though at 88 per cent of collections in August 2019, are still pretty decent, especially when you compare the dip in collections from July to August in 2019. The numbers seem to be stabilising and are expected to be in this range at an average for the next six months atleast.”

Of the gross collection, Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) is at Rs 15,906 crore, State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Rs 21,064 crore, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Rs 42,264 crore (including Rs 19,179 crore collected on import of goods) and cess Rs 7,215 crore, the finance ministry said.

M.S. Mani, partner, Deloitte India, said: “These figures indicate that the collections are on the recovery path. It is expected that the collections trajectory in the coming months would enable it to reach the earlier year’s levels in a month or two.”

Sharing information

The income tax authorities can share information with scheduled commercial banks, a move that would ease the lenders’ hassle of deciding TDS deductibility on various payments to their customers.

In a notification dated August 31, the CBDT included “scheduled commercial banks” under Section 138 of Income Tax Act for sharing of information.