The Aryavarth Express
Agency(New Delhi): Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, announced a significant milestone in India’s tax collection efficiency while presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Parliament. She reported that the average monthly gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection has almost doubled to ₹1.66 lakh crore this year.
Smt. Sitharaman emphasized that the implementation of GST unified India’s fragmented indirect tax regime, easing the compliance burden on trade and industry. She cited a recent survey by a leading consulting firm, which revealed that 94% of industry leaders view the transition to GST as largely positive. According to 80% of the respondents, GST has led to supply chain optimization.
The Finance Minister also noted the substantial increase in State revenues following the adoption of GST. States’ SGST revenue, including compensation released to states from 2017-18 to 2022-23, has achieved a buoyancy of 1.22. This is a significant improvement compared to the tax buoyancy of 0.72 for State revenues from subsumed taxes in the pre-GST period of 2012-13 to 2015-16. She asserted that consumers are the biggest beneficiaries of GST, as reductions in logistics costs and taxes have led to lower prices for most goods and services.
Additionally, the Minister highlighted improvements in international trade facilitation, with Customs processes resulting in a decline in import release time. The National Time Release Studies show that import release time at Inland Container Depots has decreased by 47% to 71 hours, at air cargo complexes by 28% to 44 hours, and at sea ports by 27% to 85 hours over the last four years since 2019.