The Goods and Services Tax (GST) yielded ₹1,48,995 crore in revenues during the month of July, the second-highest monthly collections since the launch of the GST regime and the highest in three months.
July’s GST kitty is 28% higher than the same month last year, driven by a 48% surge in revenues from import of goods, while revenues from domestic transactions, including import of services are 22% higher than a year ago.
The Finance Ministry said better reporting coupled with economic recovery have had a consistently positive impact on GST revenues, which are now 35% higher during the April to July period than a year ago. These revenues display a ‘very high buoyancy’ and are ‘a clear impact’ of various measures taken by the GST Council to ensure better compliance, it noted.
“For five months in a row now, the monthly GST revenues have been more than ₹ 1.4 lakh core, showing a steady increase every month,” the ministry said in a statement.
The GST revenues in July include central GST collections of ₹25,751 crore, State GST collections of ₹32,807 crore, and Integrated GST or IGST inflows of ₹79,518 crore, which includes ₹41,420 crore collected on import of goods. GST Compensation Cess collections were ₹10,920 crore, factoring in ₹995 crore collected on goods imports.
About a dozen States recorded higher revenue growth than the 22% overall rise in revenues from domestic transactions, including Karnataka (45%), Tamil Nadu (34%), Kerala (29%), West Bengal (28%), Haryana (27%), Telangana (26%), and Andhra Pradesh (25%).
By contrast, Gujarat (20%), Uttar Pradesh (18%), Maharashtra and Rajasthan (17%), Madhya Pradesh (12%) and Chhatisgarh (11%), were among the States with slower revenue growth than the national average. Revenues grew just 1% in Odisha and fell by ₹1 crore in Jammu and Kashmir. Tripura and Bihar reported a contraction in revenues by 3% and 1%, respectively, compared to July 2021.
GST collections had hit a record monthly high of ₹1,67,540 crore in April this year, while June 2022’s revenues of ₹144,616 crore marked the second highest monthly GST kitty before being overtaken by July’s revenues.
While these consistent high collections indicate a recovery from the pandemic’s adverse impact, they can also be attributed to inflation and tighter checks and balances implemented by authorities in recent months, said Abhishek Jain, partner (indirect tax) at KPMG in India. “With further rationalisations implemented in GST rates subsequent to the last GST Council meet in June-end, these numbers may further go up in the coming months,” Mr. Jain reckoned.
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