Lowest GST Collection in 10 Months
GST collection for June 2021 fell below Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time in nine months. GST collection was at Rs 92,849 crore in June. The last time, it happened in September 2020, when the GST collection was at Rs 95,480 crore.
GST collections have seen a remarkable drop after attaining an all-time high of Rs 1.41 lakh crore in April. From there, in May, the collection had dropped to Rs 1.02 lakh crore. It slid even further in June.
GST collections in May-June have come under pressure as COVID-19 took its toll. During May, most of the States/UTs were under either complete or partial lockdown, which impacted the economic activities.
E-way bill data of May 2021 also confirms the slowdown in activity levels. During the month, 3.99 crores e-way bills were generated as compared to 5.88 crore in April 2021. E-way bill data for June are still awaited.
Sting for Tata Motors
Tata Motors came under a bit of rough weather as the company has issued a warning about a production cut in its JLR division and significant cash outflow during the September quarter.
Tata Motors is expecting a 50% decline in production for Jaguar Land Rover and a cash outflow of about £1 billion in the September quarter. The stock reacted accordingly and tanked up to 12% intraday before closing 8% down on Monday post this announcement.
Tata Motors' warning has come in the backdrop of a global shortage of semiconductor chips. Tata Motors has pointed at this issue repeatedly in the last few months, and it expects the shortage issue to last much longer.
Semiconductor shortage is a problem for the entire auto industry across the globe, and its impact is not restricted only to Tata Motors.
As per the report of consulting firm AlixPartners, the semiconductor chip shortage is expected to cost the global automobile industry $110 billion in revenue in 2021.
All-Time High Power Demand
As per the power ministry, peak power demand touched an all-time high of 192.16 GW on July 5, 2021. It surpassed the peak power demand of 191.51 GW recorded on June 30.
Power Minister R K Singh said in a tweet that all India peak demand touched an all-time highest level of 1,97,060 MW at 11:43 hrs. Power demand has been constantly rising in the country and going at this rate, the demand is expected to touch 2,00,000 MW shortly.
Pick up infrastructure and construction activities, high temperatures in many states due to delayed monsoon and easing of restrictions are a few of the reasons for the surge in power demand.