Too early to call

Essential to see if demand holds in coming months

For the first time since the national lockdown was imposed in response to the pandemic in March, goods and services tax (GST) collection has crossed the Rs 1 trillion mark. At Rs 1.05 trillion in October, collection is up from Rs 95,000 crore in September. This is also 10 per cent higher than the GST collection in October last year. Meanwhile, the Markit purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing, widely watched as an index of optimism within the industrial sector, climbed to 58.9 in October — its highest level in more than 10 years; again, the index had turned negative after