SBI estimates increase in GST collection for 2018-19

New Delhi, March 06: Describing recent speculation on GST collection targets for the current and next fiscals as being "overtly aggressive", state-run State Bank of India on Monday estimated that the Goods and Services Tax collection for 2018-19 would grow at a rate of 14-16 per cent, bringing it closer to the decadal growth rate in indirect taxes of just under 14 per cent.

In an SBI Ecowrap report titled "The Arithmetic of GST Collections", Chief Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh noted that the speculative collection target pegged at Rs 7.4 lakh crore is 67 per cent higher than the revised estimates (RE) for the financial year 2017-18.

Noting that GST receipts during the current fiscal will only be for 9 months as the new indirect tax regime was implemented from July, and factoring in the assumption that Integrated GST (IGST) should be equally shared between the Centre and states, the report said that "GST for financial year (FY) 2019 (9 months' estimates) thus comes to 15.8 per cent".