Even as AP’s rightful demands are unfulfilled by the Centre, Andhra Pradesh has set a new record by collecting highest GST tax in the country during 2018-19 financial year. As per reports, AP has collected a whopping Rs 20,746 Crore GST in FY 2018-19 which is highest among the big states in the country.
In 2017-18, when GST was actually implemented for first time, AP had collected Rs 10,826 Crore as the GST for 8 months. Hence, AP saw a growth of 27.75 percent in GST collection in 2018-19 compared with 2017-18. AP had received a revenue loss compensation of Rs 280 Crore in the first year of GST implementation. Whereas, AP hasn’t sought any compensation in the following year.
Since the projected revenue targets have been met every month by AP, the compensation doesn’t arise. As per the GST law, the Centre compensates the States if the revenue is less than 14 percent of the base year. While AP’s projected revenue was estimated at 1660.99 Crore per month in 2018-19 fiscal, it collected 1728.84 crore on average thus achieving a growth of 27.75 percent. It is learnt that AP’s GST collection has shocked the officials in the Centre.
According to the Finance Department, the protected revenue of AP for this year is fixed at 1892.99 Crore and the target is to cross 2000 Crore per month.