Despite a host of issues surrounding the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) among business, trade and industry in Gujarat, the state has managed to secure its position among the top five states with highest GST collection. The total GST collection, including state GST (SGST), central GST (CGST) and integrated GST (IGST), in the state stood at Rs 21,859 crore as of November 30, according to data provided by Union ministry of finance. With this, Gujarat ranks third in the country as far as total GST collection is concerned. It trails behind Maharashtra (Rank -1) where GST collection stood at Rs 49,538 crore and Tamil Nadu (Rank-2) where the total GST collection was Rs 22,083 crore, as of November 30.
Apart from this, the state, which has a strong manufacturing industry in various sectors, also ranked fourth as far as SGST collection was concerned. SGST collection in Gujarat stood at Rs 7,375 crore. It was higher in Maharashtra (Rs 18,701 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 8,739 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 7,736 crore).
Sharing reasons for trailing behind these states, Shailesh Patwari, president, GCCI, said, “Gujarat is a state with strong manufacturing industry in various sectors such as ceramics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and chemicals, among others. Earlier, under Central Sales Tax (CST) regime, state government revenues from industries were high. However, GST is a destination-based consumption tax. Therefore, the revenues resulting from IGST will accumulate in the bank of the consuming state and not the manufacturing state.”
Patwari added, “Despite this, if Gujarat’s collection ranks among the top four, it is commendable. At the same time, the revenue in Gujarat, be it SGST or total GST is less than half as compared to Maharashtra which tops the chart. That explains how the state revenues are getting affected.”