Ajay Bhushan Pandey said the generation of e-way bills, needed for transportation of goods, is back to pre-Covid levels and online payments have risen exponentially
New Delhi: In signs of the economy continuing to reflate, the government’s tax collections have picked up and high-frequency activity indicators continue to improve on the back of the government’s targeted COVID-19 stimulus, Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.
Pandey said the generation of e-way bills, needed for transportation of goods, is back to pre-Covid levels and online payments have risen exponentially. Collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST), levied when a product is consumed or a service is rendered, has risen for the second month in a row.
“The (tax collection) trend shows that it did decline for the past few months, but it is not only on the path of recovery but is also picking up. In the month of September, GST collection was 4 per cent higher than what was there in the corresponding period last year,” Pandey said. “In the month of October, it has risen by 10 per cent year-on-year with a collection of above Rs 1.05 lakh crore,” he added.
Pandey said the generation of e-way bills, which is mandatory for transporting goods worth over Rs 50,000, has gone up 21 per cent in October, while the number of e-invoice generation has touched 29 lakh IRNs (Invoice Reference Numbers) a day.
“E-way bill and e-invoice coupled with better GST collections show that the economy was not only on path of recovery but also returning to the growth path and picking up steadily,” Pandey, who is also the Revenue Secretary, said.
The gross direct tax collection in April-October period of the current fiscal stood at Rs 4.95 lakh crore, down 22 per cent over the same period last fiscal. While corporate tax collection fell 26 per cent to Rs 2.65 lakh crore, personal income tax collection was 16 per cent lower at Rs 2.34 lakh crore.
GST collection in April-October period of the current fiscal stood at Rs 5.59 lakh crore, 20 per cent lower than the collection in the same period last fiscal. Notwithstanding the dip in revenues, the government has issued Rs 1.27 lakh crore worth of income tax refunds and Rs 70,000 crore GST refunds so far this fiscal.
“In last 7 months, a total Rs 2 lakh crore refund was issued. This was during the time when our collection was less,” Pandey said.
He said the focus on faceless assessment, third-party information gathering and sharing of data between various agencies has helped improve tax collection by making it difficult for people to evade taxes. Pandey said the department is collecting third-party information like taxpayer’s consumption pattern, bank statement, mutual fund and share transaction, property transaction, import, export and foreign remittances.
On economic stimulus package, he said the government’s intervention in the form of stimulus has addressed the need of most deserving section of economy and society. To promote domestic manufacturing in electronics, mobile, pharma and medical devices, the government is giving production linked incentives, Pandey said.
Ficci president Sangita Reddy on Sunday said India’s strategy of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis has paid off and the country’s economy is set to bounce back and emerge stronger. “The dilemma for governments across the world was creating a balance between protecting lives and livelihoods. India took the path of a strict lockdown to ramp up health infrastructure and focused on human lives. This strategy has paid off,” Reddy said.
She observed that science evolved to give better cures, medical infrastructure was created, supplies like PPEs ramped up and our death rate has been contained. “It’s clearly time for bold actions on the livelihood front. The recent monetary policy assures that the government and the regulator will do everything it takes to keep the economy afloat. Let us start pushing our growth agenda vigorously,” said Reddy. “As we can see the initial green shoots of recovery have begun,” she added.
Reddy noted that the PMI for manufacturing and services has recovered to 56.8 and 49.8, respectively in September 2020. Besides, there has been a pick-up in e-way bill volumes, improvement in revenue earning freight traffic of major commodities, positive growth in exports and most significantly increase in the September GST collections to almost pre-Covid-19 level.
“These incremental trends are heartening and need to be sustained, and further initiatives like the consumption vouchers must continue to remain focused on demand generation,” Reddy said. The Ficci president asserted that India’s inherent economic strengths and resilience remain intact.
“Given the progressive policies introduced by government, major infrastructure development plans in place, large consumer market, all point towards significant headroom for growth,” Reddy said. She highlighted the vibrancy of Indian entrepreneurs who are always able to spot an opportunity and move proactively, the capabilities and diligence of its working class, the commitment of its farmers and energy of its youthful population that seeks a better future, expressing confidence that the country is capable to bounce back and emerge stronger from this crisis.
“The number of new reported cases has fallen below 50,000. This indicates that the rate of spread of infection is being contained. Our recovery rate and case fatality ratio are much better compared to similar ratios for many other countries,” the Ficci president stated. She said although our health data points to a healthier destiny, yet we must continue to educate on prevention and stay vigilant while gearing up for the vaccine.
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of October, 2020 was Rs 1,05,155 crore, an official statement said on Sunday. This is the first time in the current financial year that the gross GST collections has crossed the Rs 1-lakh-crore-mark.
Out of the total GST revenue collected, which CGST (Central GST) was Rs 19,193 crore, SGST (State GST) was Rs 25,411 crore and IGST (Integrated GST) was Rs 52,540 crore (including Rs 23,375 crore collected on import of goods) and cess was Rs 8,011crore (including Rs 932 crore collected on import of goods). The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of October upto was 80 lakh. The government has settled Rs 25,091 crore to CGST and Rs 19,427 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.
The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of October, 2020 was Rs 44,285 crore for CGST and Rs 44,839 crore for the SGST. The revenues for the month are 10 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year, said a Finance Ministry statement.
During the month, revenues from import of goods were 9 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) were 11 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. The statement said that the growth in GST revenue as compared to that in months of July, August and September, 2020 shows the trajectory of recovery of the economy and, correspondingly, of the revenues, it said.