JAMMU: In a positive development for Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Goods and Service Tax (GST) revenue collections in the Financial Year 2020-21 has shown a positive growth despite constraints witnessed during the initial months of the fiscal due to Covid lockdown, indicating the revival of business and economic activities here.
As per the official figures, Gross GST revenue collections including settlement for the Financial year 2020-21 in J&K stood at Rs.4890.35 crores against a total gross GST collection of Rs 4750.60 crores in the Financial year 2019-20, registering a positive growth of 2.94 per cent. This is despite the decline in April, May and June when the GST collections stood at Rs 68.36 crore, Rs 163.71 crores and Rs 278.84 crores respectively.
It may also be noted that the GST revenue in the month of April, May and June 2019 stood at Rs 521.69 crore, Rs 393.55 crore, and Rs.420.23 crore respectively. Despite pandemic, GST revenue showed positive growth during the second half of the financial year. The reasons for the buoyancy in revenue are several measures taken by the Government alongwith the economic relief package announced in the month of September, 2020 for boosting the business and the other ailing sectors that had suffered due to adverse impact of COVID 19. The surveillance and monitoring by the State Taxes Department in preventing the tax evasion also complemented the efforts of the Government in this regard.
Similarly, under Motor Spirit and Diesel Oil Tax (MST) the collections for the Financial Year 2020-21 in the Union Territory of J&K stood at Rs 1459.89 crores against Rs 1421.69 crores in the Financial year 2019-20 thus registering a positive growth of 2.71 per cent. Under Stamps and Registrations the collections stood at Rs 268.29 crores against Rs 289.13 crores.
Overall for the Financial year 2020-21, the total revenue collections stood at Rs 6618.53 crores against Rs 6472.24 crores in the financial year 2019-20 leading to an overall positive growth in revenue collections by 2.26 peRCENT.
