Mumbai, February 12: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, while presenting the interim budget 2019, mentioned the growth in government's revenue because of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Now, a report says that collections in January crossed Rs 1 lakh crore-mark, after a gap of 2 months, the Finance Ministry said. GST May Have Single Standard Rate Between 12-18%: Arun Jaitley.

“The total gross GST Revenue collected in the month of January, 2019 has today crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. This has been a significant improvement over collection of Rs 94,725 crore during last month and Rs 89,825 crore during the same month last year,” the ministry tweeted. GST Exemption Limit Increased to Rs 40 Lakh, Other Decisions Taken at Council Meeting.

This is the third time in current fiscal that GST (Goods and Services Tax) collections has crossed the Rs one lakh crore-mark. Previously in April and October, the collections had surpassed this milestone. Industry Demands 5 Per Cent GST on All Sports Goods from 12-18%.

GST collection stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in April, Rs 94,016 crore in May, Rs 95,610 crore in June, Rs 96,483 crore in July, Rs 93,960 crore in August, Rs 94,442 crore in September, Rs 1,00,710 crore in October, Rs 97,637 crore in November and Rs 94,725 crore in December 2018.

“This increase has been achieved despite various Tax Relief measures implemented by the GST Council to lower the tax burden on the consumers,” the ministry said. Conventionally, GST collection data for a month is released on first day of the subsequent month. However, for the month of January, the full details of the revenue mopped-up will be released on February 2.

The GST collection data for the month of January, 2019, is surely a positive sign for the government. The Central government announced a number of sops and welfare measures for farmers as well as other sections. The government also announced a tax rebate for those earning under Rs 5 lakh per year. The increase in GST collections augurs well for the government treasury. (With Agency Inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 12, 2019 05:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).