Sadhu Narasimha Reddy stated that in the fiscal year 2017-18, the revenue was ₹2,856 crore, which has since surged impressively to ₹7,000 crore, marking a remarkable growth of 245 percent. He further emphasized that GST represents the most significant indirect tax reform ever witnessed in India.
GST Commissioner Sadhu Narasimha Reddy highlighted the impressive progress of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) in Guntur, noting that since the introduction of GST, the taxpayer base has grown significantly from 28,000 to approximately 78,000 presently, marking a substantial 278 percent increase.
In 2017-18, the revenue stood at ₹2,856 crore, and it has since surged impressively to ₹7,000 crore, marking a remarkable growth of 245 percent over these years. Sadhu Narasimha Reddy emphasized that this substantial increase was achieved with the same set of staff strength, which remains close to 150 employees.
Speaking at the seventh anniversary celebration of GST in Guntur on Monday, Mr. Narasimha Reddy emphasized that GST represents the largest indirect tax reform in India's history. He highlighted that GST has subsumed numerous indirect Central and State taxes, eliminated tax cascading, and introduced transparency through digitization. Mr. Narasimha Reddy further noted that these reforms have led to a significant increase in tax revenue.
The GST revenue in the first month of its implementation in July 2017 was close to ₹93,000 crore. By April 2024, at the national level, this figure had surged to ₹2.1 lakh crore. Despite the Indian economy growing at around seven percent, GST itself has been growing at approximately 12 percent. This growth underscores the success of the new tax system in enhancing tax compliance, formalizing the economy, and advancing its digitization.
The Commissioner noted that their efforts to combat tax evasion have yielded significant results. He mentioned, "We have successfully seized foreign cigarettes worth crores of rupees. In collaboration with Jindal Urban Waste Management (Guntur) Limited, we have taken proactive steps to incinerate these seized cigarettes at Kondaveedu."
He added that vigilance in detecting tax fraud and non-compliance has increased markedly. The detection of evasion has risen significantly from around ₹50 crore in previous years to ₹403 crore in the 2023-24 financial year. Similarly, the collection of duties has seen a substantial increase from an average of ₹30 crore in previous years to approximately ₹280 crore in the current fiscal year.
Guntur DRM M. Ramakrishna, Executive Director of the Tobacco Board of India A. Sridhar Babu, and several others also participated in the event.