CGST falls short of budget estimate by 40% in April-November

The actual CGST collection during April-November stood at Rs 3,28,365 crore while the budgeted estimate is of Rs 5,26,000 crore for these months, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Monday.

New Delhi: The Central GST collection fell short of the budget estimate by nearly 40 per cent during the April-November period of 2019-20, according to the data presented in the Parliament.

The actual CGST collection during April-November stood at Rs 3,28,365 crore while the budgeted estimate is of Rs 5,26,000 crore for these months, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Monday.

Thakur added that the data was, however, provisional. In 2018-19, the actual CGST collection stood at Rs 4,57,534 crore as against the provisional estimate of Rs 6,03,900 crore for the year.

For strengthening monitoring tools to prevent GST evasion, the emphasis has been laid on system based analytical tools and system-generated intelligence, he said.

"In this connection, the Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM) has been set up by the CBIC. Further, E- way bill squads have been activated for the purposes of random verification of the goods in transit," Thakur said.

The minister also informed the House that it has inserted a new CGST rule which puts restriction that the input tax credit (ITC) availed by a taxpayer shall not exceed 20 per cent of the eligible credit available in respect of invoices or debit notes.

The capping of ITC would lead to a reduction in cases of fraudulent ITC availment as well as an increase in payment of tax through cash thereby boosting GST collection, Thakur added.