Nirmala Sitharaman Revises FY20 GST Collection Estimate To Rs 6.63 Lakh Crore, Down From Rs 7.6 Lakh Crore

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reduced centre’s GST collection estimates to Rs 6.63 lakh, down from the previous Rs 7.6 lakh crore estimate projected by Piyush Goyal during the interim finance budget ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Business Standard has reported.

The annual GST tally comprises of centre’s GST collections (CGST) and integrated GST while excluding the state collection component - SGST. This though is included in the monthly collection figures.

For FY20, Sitharaman projects that the centre will earn Rs 5.20 lakh crore in CGST collection, with the rest being integrated GST earnings. This reduced estimate is a result of the government failing to meet its FY19 GST targets. It only managed to collect Rs 4.57 lakh crore CGST as opposed to the total estimate of Rs 6.10 lakh crore last year.

As reported earlier, the monthly GST collection is robust and has breached the Rs 1 Lakh crore mark three times out of the first four months of FY20.

Finance Ministry officials have attributed these high collection figures to “anti-evasion measures” undertaken by the government.