NEW DELHI: The government on Monday reported a 10% year-on-year (YoY) rise in goods and services tax (GST) collections, amounting to Rs 1.65 lakh crore. Though the December GST collections of Rs 1.65 lakh crore were 2% lower than the Rs 1.68 lakh crore recorded in November, it marks the tenth consecutive month where the monthly GST collection has surpassed the Rs 1.5 lakh-crore threshold.
In December, Central GST recorded Rs 30,443 crore, state GST amounted to Rs 37,935 crore, integrated GST stood at Rs 84,255 crore, and cess accounted for Rs 12,249 crore. After adjusting from the integrated GST pool, the total revenue for the Centre reached Rs 70,501 crore and Rs 71,587 crore for State during the month.
The latest GST data brings the average monthly collection for the fiscal year 2023-24 to Rs 1.66 lakh crore, reflecting a consistent upward trend in GST collections over the years. Notably, in its inaugural year in 2017-18, the collections averaged under Rs 1 lakh crore per month.
According to a statement from the finance ministry, the gross GST collection witnessed a robust 12% year-on-year growth during the April-December 2023 period, amounting to Rs 4.97 lakh crore, compared to `Rs 13.40 lakh crore collected in the same period of the previous year. The ministry further elaborated that the average monthly gross GST collection of Rs 1.66 lakh crore in the first nine months of this fiscal year represents a 12% increase compared to the Rs 1.49 lakh crore average recorded in the corresponding period of FY23.
M S Mani, pertner, Deloitte India, says the GST collections for December in addition to establishing new normal of Rs 1.6 lakh crore plus, demonstrates that the robust collections during the current fiscal are not driven by festive or seasonal reasons but demonstrates the strong underlying economic growth noticed across sectors.
However, Vivek Jalan, partner, Tax Connect Advisory, a multi-disciplinary tax consultancy firm, thinks there is no tax buoyancy as far as GST is concerned. “Considering an inflation of 5.5% and GDP growth of 6.5%, a growth in GST revenues by 12% just around matches the real economic growth. It means that there is NIL Tax buoyancy as of now. With multiple years assessments and Show cause notices getting time barred in the current FY, possibly the Ministries at Centre and States would be expecting that some buoyancy be generated by the tax administration,” Jalan added.
Swelling the coffers