SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Government has strongly reacted to the claims by the Ministry of Finance that the State GST collections fell from ₹239 crore in 2022-23 to ₹234 crore in 2023-24. According to a statement, the State's Finance Department claimed the numbers furnished were on a fragmented data base pertaining to April 2024, that did not include full settlements.
It stated that the GST collection of Meghalaya has seen a steady increase in the last three fiscal years. Collections have gone up from ₹1,118 crore in 2021-22 to ₹1,723 crore in 2023-24. Growth rates for the corresponding period were recorded at 35.87% in 2021-22, 32.12% in 2022-23, and 16.66% in 2023-24, indicating growth in revenue collection.
It was here that the Finance Department pointed out that the Ministry was doing an analysis for only one month's data and hence did not reflect the complete picture. The state government explained that it was receiving GST in two forms: one, as a daily collection by way of cash ledger payments, and the other, monthly through IGST and ITC settlements. For the period covering April-August 2024, the GST receipt for Meghalaya was ₹772 crore with a growth rate of 5% over ₹737 crore collected during the same period in 2023.
Despite this, Meghalaya reportedly recorded a poor performance in August 2024, sliding 18% compared to August 2023. In response, the state has begun an aggressive checking of returns for hampering evasion. The government has also unleashed awareness drives targeting small shopkeepers and asking them to ensure that proper invoices with state-specific addresses are generated so that the GST collections actually accrue in the account of Meghalaya.
As many as 376 cases involving ₹ 121 crore are under scrutiny in the current financial year for possible evasion of GST. The government said it continued to focus on improving collections with more scrutiny and awareness.
The growth rate of the other northeastern states was all over the map: Assam grew 7%, Manipur 11%, while Sikkim contracted 16%. Meghalaya, however remains on course, notwithstanding the monthly hiccups in collection figures.
With these efforts in place, the state government is confident of stabilizing and increasing its GST revenue further, so that not only the day-to-day collections but also the month-to-month ones emerge as representative of the actual financial health of the state.
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