GST collections rise 13% to Rs 1.72 Lakh Crore in October, 2nd highest ever

New Delhi:

GST collections rose 13 per cent to Rs 1.72 lakh crore in October, the second highest on record, thanks to the buoyant economy, taxpayers’ efforts to check tax evasion and festive demand.

“GST revenue collection for October 2023 is the second highest ever, after April 2023, at Rs 1.72 lakh crore; a record increase of 13 per cent year-on-year,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The highest ever revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) was recorded in April 2023 at Rs 1.87 lakh crore, while in September it was Rs 1.63 lakh crore.

The average monthly gross GST collection during the current financial year also showed a growth of 11 per cent year-on-year at Rs 1.66 lakh crore.

Aditi Nayar, chief economist at Icra, said GST collections benefited from quarter-end adjustments related to previous month’s transactions and overall dynamics in the economy.

“With this, the year-on-year growth rate reached a 10-month high in October 2023, which is encouraging. At present, we expect CGST collections to marginally exceed that of FY 2024 BE ” said Ms. Nayar.

In October, domestic transaction revenue increased 13 percent year-on-year.

The gross GST revenue collected in October 2023 is Rs 1,72,003 crore, of which Rs 30,062 crore is Central GST, Rs 38,171 crore is State GST, Rs 91,315 crore (including Rs 42,127 crore collected from ‘import of goods) are integrated GST, and Rs 12,456 crore (including Rs 1,294 crore collected on import of goods) constitutes tax.

The government has settled Rs 42,873 crore to CGST and Rs 36,614 crore to SGST from IGST.

The total income of the Center and states in October after regular settlement is Rs 72,934 crore for CGST and Rs 74,785 crore for SGST.

Parag Mehta, partner, NA Shah Associates, indirect taxation, said one of the reasons for the increase in collections is the limitation period for the financial year 2017-18.

“The wave of notifications, anti-evasion campaigns, DGGST investigations, etc. have led to significant recoveries. Furthermore, the period from September to December is a festive period where consumer spending is high on items of high value such as real estate, vehicles, gold, and travel.

“Collections are set to increase significantly again with the filing of annual reports etc. for the financial year 2022-23,” Mr. Mehta said.

MS Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said the remarkable growth in GST collections over the past few months is not only due to strong underlying economic factors, but also efforts by tax authorities to deploy tools to compare data sets to determine overdraft and evasion payments.

Abhishek Jain, head of indirect taxes and partner at KPMG, said a mid-year collection of such high numbers was certainly worth applauding, and continued consumption driven by the festivities could help continue this trend.

Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner, EY, said with the stability in collection, the government can now look at rate rationalization as the next task.

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