GST collection slides below Rs 94,000 crore
New Delhi, Sep 1 : Revenue collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) dropped to Rs 93,960 crore in August as against Rs 96,483 crore collected in July.
The government said a major factor for the dip in tax revenues could be "probable postponement" of sale of items on which tax rate was reduced by the GST Council in its July 21 meeting. The reduced rates were to come into effect from July 27.
"Since it would have taken some time for the market to pass on the benefit of reduced taxes, consumers might have postponed their decision to buy, expecting the benefit. The actual impact of reduction of rate of taxes would be observed only from next month onwards as the rate reduction would have got affected only in last few days of the month," the Finance Ministry said.
It added that even past trends show that August collections are lower than the July collections.
"Even past trend of indirect tax collection shows that while July collections are 8.2 per cent of the total annual collections, August collections are at a lower level of 7.7 per cent of the total annual collections. This is another reason for lower collections during the month of August as compared to that in July," it said.
As per the data released by the Ministry, the total gross GST revenue collected in the month of August (for the month of July) stood at Rs 93,960 crore, of which Central GST was Rs 15,303 crore, State GST Rs 21,154 crore and Integrated GST was Rs 49,876 crore. An additional Rs 7,628 crore was collected as cess.
The total number of GST returns filed for the month of July up to August stood at 67 lakh, slightly higher than 66 lakh returns filed in July (for June).
The last date of filing return of July has been extended till October for Kerala.
"The total revenue earned by the Central and state governments after settlement including provisional settlement of Rs 12,000 crore in August is Rs 36,963 crore for Central GST and Rs 41,136 crore for State GST. For the bi-monthly period June-July, compensation of Rs 14,930 crore has been released to the states," an official statement said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
