New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): India's gross GST revenue collection remained above the psychological mark of Rs 1 lakh crore for the second consecutive month, clocking Rs 1,12,020 crore in August 2021, as economic activity has picked up pace post the second wave of pandemic.

Though the GST revenues during August 2021 are a tad lower than the over Rs 1.16 lakh crore collections recorded in the previous month, it had maintained pace after the fall witnessed in June when collections fell to Rs 92,849 crore after a record high of Rs 1.41 lakh crore collection made in April and another over Rs 1 lakh collection in May.

Most tax experts feel that with the economy on path of recovery and GDP growth in Q1 FY22 also reaching a high of 20.1 per cent, GST collections are expected to maintain momentum through the fiscal reducing the requirement of venture to borrow more to meet the compensation needs on account tax collection shortfall to states.

"The revenues for the month of August 2021 are 30 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year," a finance ministry statement said.

"GST collection, after posting above Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for nine months in a row, dropped below Rs 1 lakh crore in June 2021 due to the second wave of Covid. With the easing of Covid restrictions, GST collection for July and August 2021 have again crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, which clearly indicates that the economy is recovering at a fast pace," the statement added.

According to the statement, the gross GST revenue collected in the month of August 2021 is Rs 1,12,020 crore of which CGST is Rs 20,522 crore, SGST is Rs 26,605 crore, IGST is Rs 56,247 crore (including Rs 26,884 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 8,646 crore (including Rs 646 crore collected on import of goods).

The government has settled Rs 23,043 crore to CGST and Rs 19,139 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. In addition, Centre has also settled Rs 24,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between Centre and States/UTs.

The total revenue of Centre and the States after regular and ad-hoc settlements in the month of August' 2021 is Rs 55,565 crore for CGST and Rs 57,744 crore for the SGST.

During the month, the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 27 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. Even as compared to the August revenues in 2019-20 of Rs 98,202 crore, this is a growth of 14 per cent.

Coupled with economic growth, anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers have also been contributing to the enhanced GST collections. The robust GST revenues are likely to continue in the coming months too, the finance ministry said.