Impact Assessment of First Wave of Covid-19 Pandemic on Goods and Services Tax (GST) Revenue Collection & Distribution in India

Purpose: The restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the normal functioning of the economy. A country like India is facing a lot of concerns in all its sectors especially, in its fiscal system. This paper makes an attempt to examine the impact of COVID19 first wave on Goods and Service Tax revenue collection and distribution in India and also studies the impact of COVID-19 first wave on the state wise GST revenue of the country. Research Design, Data and Methodology: Our study is based on published GST revenue data. Tools such as Paired Sample t-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test are employed to analyze the data. Results: Our results provide evidence that there is a sharp decline in the GST revenue in the months after the lockdown announcement. The large states show no significance impact of COVID-19 pandemic on GST collection. Whereas, small states like Manipur and Goa show significant difference in GST revenue collection & distribution between the pre and post lockdown period. Conclusion: The outcome of this study will help the policymakers to analyze the extent of the GST revenue loss to the government treasury and will allow them to take appropriate measures in the future.