SAHIL RASGOTRA
LEH: Marking yet another historical moment in the developmental journey of the union territory, Ladakh has registered a growth of 113% in the GST collections for the month of May, second highest among all the states and the union territories of the country.
This significant development come as India’s overall Good & Services Tax (GST) revenue collection in May rose by 12 per cent annually to Rs 1,57,090 crore of which CGST is Rs 28,411 crore, SGST is Rs 35,828 crore, IGST is Rs 81,363 crore (including Rs 41,772 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 11,489 crore (including Rs 1,057 crore collected on import of goods), as per the finance ministry data released on Thursday. The Goods and Services Tax collection in May 2022 was Rs 1.40 lakh crore.
The union territory of Ladakh registered a GST collection of Rs 26 Crore in the month of May 2023.
“In the month of May 2022, the GST revenue of the union territory of Ladakh was Rs 12 Crore. In the month of May 2023, the GST revenue has rose to Rs 26 Crore, an increase of Rs 14 Crore,” a senior official informed The Earth News.
“This translates to a growth of 113%,” he added.
With 113% increase in the GST revenue collected from the region, the union territory of Ladakh stands second among all the states and the union territories of the country.
Ladakh stands second only to Lakshadweep, India’s smallest Union Territory, which has registered a growth of 210%. However, it posted only Rs 2 Crore as GST collection.
Neighbouring union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has registered a GST collection of Rs 422 Crore in the month of May 2023, against the GST collection of Rs 372 Crore in the month of May 2022, posting a growth rate of 14%.
Ladakh, it may be mentioned, was carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir only three and a half year ago.
This is the second consecutive month that the union territory of Ladakh has posted stellar figures with regards to the GST collections.
In the month of April 2022, the union territory had recorded a growth rate of 43% in the GST collections, second highest among all the union territories of the country.
Last month, the union territory of Ladakh registered a GST collection of Rs 68 Crore, an year-on-year increase of 43% over the GST collection of April 2022, which stood at Rs 47 Crore. Ladakh had posted the second best performance among all the union territories of the country– second only to the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which had registered a growth of 44%– and fourth best among all states and union territories of the country.
According to the official data released by the Finance Ministry on Thursday, the overall GST collections in India crossed Rs 1.50 lakh crore for the third month in a row, recording a 12 per cent increase in May at over Rs 1.57 lakh crore.
The collections, tax experts said, reflects a continuation of the good economic performance across states witnessed since last year.
“The revenues for the month of May 2023 are 12 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year,” the ministry said.
During the month, revenue from import of goods was 12 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 11 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
May is the third month in a row that tax collections from goods sold and services rendered have crossed Rs 1.50 lakh crore. In April GST revenues had touched a record high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore, while in March it was Rs 1.60 lakh crore.
May is the 14th month in a row when monthly GST revenues came in more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore. Collections have crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore-mark for the 5th time since the implementation of GST on July 1, 2017.
