Growing GST collection but persistent market dullness has been quite a puzzling topic but with the labour returning back to work after a refreshing Diwali and Chhath festival, and staggering GST collection minted in the month of Oct from the domestic market, the prospect for the interior retail segment seems bright because as per industry pioneers, high GST collection can be assumed as an indicator of increased spending of the people, though not applied for masses.
According to data, GST collections in October stood at Rs 1.87 lakh crore, which reflects a jump of 8.9 percent compared to the October 2023, when GST collection stood at Rs 1.72 lakh crore. During the month under review, GST from domestic transactions grew 10.6 per cent to Rs 1.42 lakh crore, while revenues from tax on imports rose about 4 per cent to Rs 45,096 crore.
As per market experts and leading industry professionals, domestic supplies are supposed to be the driver of the remarkable tax collection, while many large states have recorded an increase in GST revenue above 9 per cent, though some of them particularly smaller states have shown a below average increase, which would be an area of concern for those states.
Wood panel sector is majorly dependent on migrant labour, who hailed from UP, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa etc and during festive time they have gone to their native place for one-two weeks that is every year phenomenon that has impacted manufacturing and site work both.
Industry and trade people reported that they have lots of pending order of materials but due to labour shortage, it has been delayed. Construction sites and Interior works are reported to be dull due to shortage of available man powers.
Experts say that the festive season and GST collection indicated a good demand scenario in the coming month; hence all eyes are fixated on the return of labour after the second week of November. Election in Jharkhand and by-election in UP and Bihar also held some labour to stay home till polling date.