The government on May 1, 2023 said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection for April was at a record high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore. photo credit: Nagra Gopal
India’s gross GST revenue reached a record high of ₹1,87,035 crore in April, up 12% compared to the same month last year, which saw the previous highest tax tally of ₹1.67 lakh crore.
GST revenue from domestic transactions made during March, including import of services, grew at a faster pace of 16% year-on-year in April, faster than the 14% recorded a month ago.
While the finance ministry did not explicitly disclose the revenue growth due to goods imports for April, back-of-the-envelope calculations indicated that there was a 4.5% decline from the previous April – a year over year. The first contraction in revenue from imports of
Read also: March saw second highest GST collection of ₹1.6 lakh crore
In the first three quarters of 2022-23, an increase of over 25% was recorded in GST revenue from import of goods. The growth was more sluggish in the previous two months – 6% in February and 8% in March, indicating a slowdown in domestic demand.
An official indicated that April’s decline in revenue from goods imports could be partly triggered by the challenges importers face under a new customs duty payment system introduced on April 1.
The GST Compensation Cess collection also hit a new record of Rs 12,025 crore in April, which included nearly Rs 900 crore collected from import of goods. This tally surpassed the ₹11,931 crore collected through cess in February, which was the highest ever.
Mahesh Jaisingh, partner, Deloitte India, said the unprecedented increase in overall collections was due to increased year-end compliance by taxpayers for 22-23 as well as rising economic activity and the official push for GST audits.
He added, “With revenue stabilizing at a level of over ₹1.5 lakh crore in recent months, there is a need to make some forward-looking transformational changes in the law to rationalize the GST rate structure and help the industry on the working capital front.” The time is right.”
The ministry said central GST collections stood at Rs 38,440 crore, state GST duties at Rs 47,412 crore, while integrated GST fetched Rs 89,158 crore, including Rs 34,972 crore collected on import of goods.
The ministry said April 20 also recorded the highest ever single-day GST collection, with Rs 68,228 crore paid by taxpayers through 9.8 lakh transactions. Last year, the same day saw a tax payment of Rs 57,846 crore in 9.6 lakh transactions.
While overall domestic transactions generated 16% more revenue than last April, trends across states were very mixed. The revenue growth in Odisha was only 3%, while it was 4% in Gujarat, 5% in Rajasthan, 6% in Andhra Pradesh and 8% in Delhi.
The revenue of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir increased by 44% (43% in Ladakh), while that of Madhya Pradesh increased by 28%, Karnataka by 23%, Maharashtra by 21% and Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand by 19% each.
ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said, “GST collections have maintained a healthy growth of 11% to 13% in recent months, but a normal base and some moderation in inflation should moderate the pace of expansion in the coming quarters.” Might.”
“The total number of e-way bills generated in March 2023 was 9 crore, which is 11% higher as compared to 8.1 crore e-way bills generated in February 2023,” the ministry said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this is very good news for the Indian economy. “Increasing tax collection despite lower tax rates shows how GST has increased integration and compliance,” he said in a tweet.