Bengal becomes SGST surplus

Kolkata: The Centre has congratulated Bengal government for its success in registering a revenue surplus and rapidly bringing down the revenue gap in the State Goods and Services Tax (GST).

In a tweet in this connection on Saturday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated: "You will be happy to know that Government of India has congratulated West Bengal for not only bringing down rapidly the revenue gap in State GST, but also registering a revenue surplus in March, 2018."

Comparing the state's performance with that of the country as a whole, she maintained: "The revenue gap in Bengal, which was 33.4% in August, 2017 has registered a surplus of 3% by March, 2018. The performance of the state has been far better than that of the country as a whole. Where Bengal achieved a surplus of 3% in March, 2018, the country as a whole registered a revenue deficit of 17.9% in March, 2018. My best wishes to all. I thought of sharing this with all of you."

In a letter to state Chief Secretary Malay De, the Union Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia stated that "…The overall revenue gap in SGST collection for the whole country in July was 28.3 percent which has come down to 17.9 percent in March. However, there have been spikes in between in the revenue gap in the month of November, December and February… As far as West Bengal is concerned, the revenue gap has come down… The revenue shortfall in West Bengal has been coming down steadily but there seems to have been a spike of a major gain in March where suddenly your revenue deficit has now become revenue surplus. I would like to congratulate West Bengal for such a performance…" Mamata Banerjee had voiced her concerns regarding the hurried implementation of the GST by the Modi government.