The government expects the final figure of January to marginally rise as it released the data one day in advance. Usually, monthly revenue figures are released on the first day of the following month. An exception is made for the January numbers because the government presents the fiscal Budget for the subsequent financial year on February 1.

“The gross GST revenue collected in the month of January, 2024 (till 05:00 PM of 31.01.2024) is ₹1,72,129 crore, which shows a 10.4% year-on-year growth over the revenue of ₹1,55,922 crore collected in January 2023 (till 05:00 PM on 31.01.2023),” the Union finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 

“Final collection for the month [January 2024] would be higher,” it said.

Monthly GST revenues saw a significant jump in the current financial year. Collections crossed the ₹1.70 mark for three times in 2023-24, with April 2023 being the highest ever at ₹1,87,035 crore. The second time was in October 2023, when ₹1,72,003 crore was collected. 

On average this financial year, the monthly GST collection has been above ₹1.66 lakh crore, mainly because of a buoyant economy and stricter compliance driven by technology, experts said.

Robust GST collections, a weathervane of economic health, reflect resilience of the Indian economy,despite global headwinds stemming from the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and disruption in the Red Sea trade route . 

The data is in sync with India’s first advance estimates of growth released on January 5 which projected a higher-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.3% in 2023-24. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday revised its growth forecast for India in 2023-24 to 6.7% from 6.3% earlier.

Cumulative gross GST collection witnessed 11.6% y-o-y growth in the first 10 months of FY24 (April 2023-January 2024 till 05:00 PM of January 31), reaching ₹16.69 lakh crore, as against ₹14.96 lakh crore collected in the same period of the previous year, the statement said.

“Coming on the Budget eve, the second highest-ever GST collections would provide even more headroom for embarking upon the next stage of GST reforms,” said MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India. He gave credit to better tax administration . “These collections relate to supply transactions of goods and services during December 2023, when there was considerable emphasis on completing audits and investigations relating to earlier years.”

Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner at EY, said the recent surge in GST collections underscores the strength and resilience of the Indian economy. “This consistent upward trend, evident in surpassing key milestones, reflects the effectiveness of improved tax administration and heightened taxpayer compliance. Overall, these positive indicators pave the way for continued economic expansion.”

The government settled ₹43,552 crore to central GST (CGST) and ₹37,257 crore to state GST (SGST) from the integrated GST (IGST) collection, the statement said. 

IGST is levied on inter-state transfer of goods and services and it is shared between the Centre and the state. All imports are treated as inter-state supplies and accordingly IGST is levied on them in addition to the applicable custom duties.