Covid 2.0 impact: June GST revenue slips below Rs 1 lakh cr mark after 8 months

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) revenue for June slipped below the Rs 1 lakh crore mark after eight months due to the impact of the second Covid-19 wave. "The gross GST revenue collected in the month of June 2021 is Rs 92,849 crore," said the ministry of finance.

The June revenue is up almost 2 per cent from Rs 90,917 crore in June last year, while it is down 9.8 percent sequentially from Rs 1,02,709 crore in May. "After posting above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for eight months in a row, the collection in June dropped below Rs 1 lakh crore. The GST collection for June 2021 is related to the business transactions made during May 2021. During May 2021, most states/UTs were under either complete or partial lockdown due to COVID-19," the ministry said.

"The e-way bill data for the month of May 2021 shows that during the month, 3.99 crore e-way bills were generated as compared to 5.88 crore in the month of April 2021, down by more than 30%," it added.  

The government is hopeful that with the lockdown restrictions now eased, and the recovery visible in the e-way bills in June, the monthly GST collection is likely to pick up going forward.

"With reduction in caseload and easing of lockdowns, the e-way bills generated during June 2021 is 5.5 crore, which indicates recovery of trade and business. The daily average generation of e-way bills for the first two weeks of April 2021 was 20 lakh, which came down to 16 lakh in the last week of April 2021 and further to 12 lakh in the two weeks between May 9 and May 22. Thereafter, the average generation of e-way bills has been increasing and has reached again to 20 lakh level since the week beginning 20th June," the ministry said.   

"Therefore, it is expected that while the GST revenues have dipped during the month of June, the revenues will see an increase again from July 2021 onwards," it added.

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