Meghalaya GST up 35% in October; Assam leads Northeast with 47% growth

Meghalaya's Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue grew 35% year on year in October, rising to Rs 216 crore from Rs 160 crore in October last year, according to official data cited by officials on Sunday.

That put the state third in the Northeast for GST growth last month, behind Assam and Manipur, PTI reported, as carried by India Today NE and The Meghalayan Express.

How the region compares

• Assam: up 47%, to Rs 1,934 crore from Rs 1,315 crore, the highest growth in the region.
• Manipur: up 40%, to Rs 90 crore from Rs 64 crore.
• Meghalaya: up 35%, to Rs 216 crore from Rs 160 crore.
• Nagaland: up 12%, to Rs 73 crore, as reported earlier.
• Sikkim: down 28%, to Rs 221 crore from Rs 307 crore, the only northeastern state to record a contraction.

Meghalaya's pre-settlement State GST (SGST) collections, the state's own share before the inter-state settlement of integrated GST, rose even faster, by 81% to Rs 84 crore from Rs 47 crore a year earlier.

The national picture

The regional figures come from the provisional October data released by the government on November 1. Nationally, gross GST collections rose 22.9% to Rs 2.31 lakh crore from Rs 1.88 lakh crore a year earlier, Northeast News reported. Net collections after refunds grew faster, by 25.6%, to Rs 2.03 lakh crore.

Much of the jump came from imports: import-linked revenue rose 42.2% to Rs 72,246 crore. Domestic revenue, which is what the state-wise figures above reflect, grew a more modest 15.8% to Rs 1.59 lakh crore. Within that, Central GST brought in Rs 42,935 crore, State GST Rs 51,340 crore and Integrated GST Rs 64,769 crore.

For the first seven months of the financial year (April to October), gross collections are up 13.2% at Rs 14.77 lakh crore.

What it means for the Northeast

State-wise figures count GST paid by businesses registered in each state. For the northeastern states, where the tax base is small, a handful of large taxpayers can move the numbers sharply in either direction. Assam, which accounts for the bulk of the region's collections, grew at more than twice the national domestic rate last month, while Manipur and Meghalaya also beat it comfortably.

No official reason was given for Sikkim's decline.