Punjab has earned revenue of Rs. 1481.83 crores fromGST during the month of April 2021 which is the highest ever revenue from GSTfor any particular month since the introduction of GST in the country duringJuly, 2017.
Disclosing details, an official spokesperson of theTaxation Commissioner’s office said that the earlier highest monthly revenuefrom GST was Rs. 1216 crores which were earned during July 2019 while therevenue from GST during April 2020 was meagre Rs. 156 crores.
The spokesperson further pointed out that thisexceptionally low collection was due to relief provided to the taxpayers in thefurnishing of returns for the months of February, March, and April, 2020 onaccount of COVID-19 and the country undergoing lockdown since 23rd March 2020.However, it is noteworthy that the revenue earned from GST during April 2019,which was a normal year, stood at Rs.1087.55 crores, said the spokespersonadding against April 2019 Punjab has recorded a growth of 36% with sectorslike Telecom, Iron and Steel, Electronic goods, Cement, Petroleum products(which are within GST) making an important contribution to the revenue earned forthe particular month.
Meanwhile, the taxpayers of Punjab have paid GST in cashto the tune of Rs. 1924.10 crores which is another historic high as it is thehighest amount of monthly collection from the State since the launch of GST.The previous highest was Rs. 1396 crores achieved in the month of November,2020.
In addition to GST, Punjab also collects tax revenue fromVAT and CST regime with major contributors being alcohol for human consumptionand five petroleum products which are outside the ambit of GST. For the monthof April 2021, the total VAT and CST collection stands at Rs. 701.13 croreswhereas it was Rs. 430.82 crores for the same month in 2019 thereby indicatinga growth of nearly 63%. The collections from Punjab State Development Tax(PSDT) have been stable as in April 2021 the State has collected PSDT of Rs.13.83 crores as against Rs. 13.86 crores for the same month in 2019, added thespokesperson.