The government's collection of gross revenue from GST or goods and services tax stood at Rs 1,03,184 crore last month. That marked an increase of 8.93 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year ago. GST collection had come in at Rs 94,726 crore in December 2018, according to an official release. On a month-on-month basis, however, GST revenue declined 0.30 per cent, from Rs 1,03,492 crore in November 2019.
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GST collections rose above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the fifth time in this financial year (April, May, July, November and December). The government needs an average monthly collection of more than Rs 1 lakh crore every month to meet its budget target.
Out of the total gross GST revenue collected in December, CGST (central goods and services tax) accounted for Rs 19,962 crore, SGST (state goods and services tax) Rs 26,792 crore and IGST (integrated GST) Rs 48,099 crore (including Rs 21,295 crore collected on imports), according to the official statement.
Any improvement in tax collections lowers the risk of fiscal slippage at a time when the economy is struggling against is slowest pace of expansion in more than six years amid a slowdown across sectors.
The fiscal deficit - or the shortfall in government's income compared with spending - is already under strain ever since the government reduced the corporate taxes in a surprise move last year.
The corporate tax cut shrank the government's tax revenue for the current fiscal year by Rs 1.45 lakh crore.
A total of 81.21 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed for the month of November till December 31.
The GST revenue from domestic transactions increased 16 per cent compared with the year-ago period, the government said.
Taking into account the IGST collected from imports, the total revenue collected in December rose 9 per cent. Last month, the IGST on import of goods contracted 10 per cent.
The total revenue earned by the central and state governments after regular settlement in December was Rs 41,776 crore and Rs 42,158 crore respectively, according to the finance ministry.
The government has set a goal of containing the fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in financial year 2019-20.
