Centre, states collect record Rs1.87 trillion GST receipts in April

Last April, Centre and states had collected RS 1.68 trillion in GST, which was the highest so far in the indirect tax regime. On 20 April, revenue collections on a single day shot up to the highest ever of ₹ ₹68,228 crore through 980,000 transactions, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The strong GST collection marks a robust beginning of the fiscal for policy makers, who are banking on normal monsoon showers and early end to the conflict in Eastern Europe for support to the 6.5% economic growth forecast for this fiscal. Any spill over effects of the banking stress in Europe and the US and the economic consequences of a tight monetary policy in those markets could impact India’s economic growth this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the record GST revenue receipts a great news for the Indian economy.

“Rising tax collection despite lower tax rates shows the success of how GST has increased integration and compliance,” Modi said in a social media post. 

Finance ministry said that after settlement of interstate transactions, the Centre collected ₹84,304 crore as Central GST, while states collected RS ₹85,371 crore as SGST. On import of goods, the collections stood at ₹34,972 crore, which is part of the tax revenue from integrated GST or IGST that is settled between Centre and states. GST cess on high end products, tobacco and aerated drings fetched ₹12,025 crore, which goes to repaying the liquidity support extended to states during the pandemic in lieu of their GST compensation.

April revenue receipts relates to the transactions during March, the closing month of FY23, where all organisations would have been keen to close the fiscal year on a high note, explained MS Mani, Partner, Deloitte India. This comes on the back of the month GST collections crossing ₹1.4 trillion continuously during FY23 and hence is a testimony to the good economic growth and the enhanced efforts aimed at improving compliances, said Mani.

Majority of large states reported more than 20% growth over the same period last year, indicating a broad-based revenue growth across states, he said.

The improvement was as per expectations given that the monthly generation of electronic permits for goods transportation within and across states (e-way bills) had crossed nine crore mark in March, which is 11% higher than the 8.1 crore permits generated in February. Among states, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh registered more than 20% annual growth in GST revenue in April, while Punjab saw a 16% growth and Tamil Nadu a 19% growth. Delhi reported an 8% annual growth in April.