Chandigarh sees 8% rise in GST collection, but yet to return to FY20 levels

In September this year, Rs 152 crore was collected as GST, while Rs 157 crore was collected in the same month of FY20

With the city re-opening at a fast pace after the two Covid-19 waves, the Goods Service Tax (GST) collection in Chandigarh in September recorded a rise of 8 per cent in comparison with the same month last year. While the Rs 152 crore was collected as GST in September 2021, the collection in the same month in 2020 was Rs 141 crore.

Despite the rise, the GST collection is yet to return to the pre-Covid levels. In the fiscal year 2019-20, as much as Rs 157 crore was collected as GST in September– which is Rs 5 crore higher than GST collected in September in the current year.

As per the figures released by the Finance Ministry on Friday, Rs 141 crore was collected as GST in September 2020-21 and Rs 152 crore was collected in September FY 2021-22– recording an 8 per cent increase.

The city has been recording a hike in its GST collection for at least three consecutive months now. At least 23 per cent and 4 per cent increase in GST collection was recorded in the month of July and August this year, compared to the same months in 2020, respectively. As per figures, Rs 156 crore was collected as GST in July FY-2019-20, while Rs 137 crore was collected in July FY-2020-21. In the month of July in the current financial year (FY2021-22), Rs 169 crore was collected as GST.

Further, in August FY-2019-20, Rs 160 crore was collected as GST, while in the same month, Rs 139 crore was collected as GST in FY2020-21 and Rs 144 crore was collected in the same month in FY 2021-22.

A senior Excise and Taxation department officer said, “Though the GST collection is increasing, we still have a long road to go. The collection of GST in the current financial year is still lower than the financial year 2019-20. During the last financial year, Chandigarh had witnessed a continued downslide in GST collection. Various reasons, including the impact of Covid-19, lockdown and slow pace of recovery etc were attributed to the low collection of GST. The administration had even blocked the e-way bill generation of at least 1,020 firms for not filing GST returns.”

Advocate Ajay Jagga said, “The local administration needs to work hard on improving the growth rate. Despite Chandigarh being one of cities with high consumption capacity, where local residents prefer to spend money, the growth rate is much less than Punjab and Haryana. There is also another aspect to this trend. It appears that the city is coming out from the Covid-19 impact. But there is still a lot of things to do.”

Source: Read Full Article