Pharma freebies under scrutiny

The government has asked pharma companies to submit details of marketing expenditure in the past one year

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad

Central and state governments collected over ₹2 trillion in goods and services taxes (GST) in May before refunds, official data showed on Sunday, a 16% annual improvement that sustains the robust tax performance of the previous month.

The collections in May also benefited from the strong 25% growth in gross receipt of integrated GST or IGST—the type of GST levied on imported goods, showing strong import value growth at the beginning of the current financial year amid trade uncertainty.

In April, too, IGST on imports had grown nearly 21% before refunds, compared with a 13.6% growth in March, prompting some experts to flag the possibility of dumping of goods into India by other countries as the Trump tariff announcement came in April.

IGST accounted for a fourth of gross GST revenue in May.

GST collections from domestic sales too witnessed a 13.7% growth in May, faster than the 10.1% nominal GDP growth the central government has forecast, suggesting strong consumer sentiments.

Industrialized states barring Gujarat, reported strong growth performance.