Concerns over a slowdown in the economy deepened with the GST collection dipping to a 19-month low of Rs 91,916 crore in September against Rs 98,202 crore in the preceding month, according to government data released on Tuesday. The revenue collection in the same month a year ago stood at Rs 94,442 crore.

The previous low was Rs 85,174 crore in February 2018.

“The total gross GST revenue collected in the month of September 2019 is Rs 91,916 crore of which Central GST is Rs 16,630 crore, State GST is Rs 22,598 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 45,069 crore (including Rs 22,097 crore collected on imports) and cess is Rs 7,620 crore (including Rs 728 crore collected on imports),” a finance ministry release said.

“The year-on-year decline in GST collections in September and the sub-5 per cent growth in first half of FY2020 have reinforced concerns regarding impending shortfalls in government’s indirect tax collections relative to the budgeted target for FY2020,” Aditi Nayar, principal economist at Icra, said.

“This is a risk not only for the Centre’s fiscal situation but also for the state governments, which receive 42 per cent of the shareable taxes as central tax devolution. This may necessitate expenditure cutbacks at the state government level,” Nayar said.

Niraj Bagri, partner at Dhruva Advisors, said “The September collections of Rs 91,916 crore is a significant drop if one compares the last few months’ data. This could indicate a reduction in economic activities. With the announcement of income tax reforms, any further dip in GST collections would be a cause of concern for the government.”

The revenue during September declined 2.67 per cent over the same month a year ago, the release said.

M. S. Mani, partner at Deloitte India, said, “The lower collections seem to be on account of the lower GDP growth numbers that we have seen as GST is a transaction tax that is immediately impacted by any decline in any economic activity. However the subsequent festival season is expected to improve collections.”

Abhishek Jain, tax partner at EY India, said, “Stricter controls on tax evasion and audits by the revenue authorities may help in improving collections.”