Assam GST collection in Sep 2020 rose 13.49% from the same month last year: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: Assam's Finance, Health, and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today announced that for the first time since a lockdown was clamped across India to contain coronavirus, the state has registered positive revenue growth in comparison to the same period last year.

As per the figures presented by Sarma, this year's September saw a higher revenue than September of 2019, when the Corona was not a factor.

While the Government has added Rs. 757.94 crores to its coffers in September of 2020, the revenue collection in September of 2019 stood at Rs. 667.83 crores.

"First time since Lockdown, Assam registered positive GST revenue growth of 13.49% in Sept 2020 (Rs 757.94 cr) via-a - vis Sept 2019 ( Rs 667.83cr). We will continue with this momentum to reach our revenue target,' Sarma wrote in a tweet, making the announcement.

This is in sharp contrast to the national GDP, which has witnessed record dips in the months when the lockdown was imposed. India's Gross Domestic Product growth rate contracted by 23.9% for the April to June quarter as the coronavirus pandemic took a toll on the country's economy, government data says.

Additionally, the virus has taken a severe toll on the jobs sector as well, with layoffs at an att time high across the country.

About 21 million salaried employees lost their jobs during April-August, with about 3.3 million jobs being lost in August and 4.8 million in July, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said.

Meanwhile, Assam has relaxed several of the curbs so that economic activities can be resumed. The Central government too has relaxed many of the lockdown restrictions. In its 'Unlock 5' guidelines issued yesterday, the government said the cinemas can reopen from October 15 with limited seating capacity.

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