GST revenue up 56% in June, Finance minister signals 1.4 lakh crore new normal – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India’s GST collections rose 56%, at their fastest pace in over a year, to nearly Rs 1.45 lakh crore in June, marking the 12th consecutive month of over Rs 1 lakh crore collections.
The Rs 1,44,616 crore collected in June, based on transactions in May, was the second highest monthly generation since the new tax regime kicked in five years ago. June was the fourth straight month of collections topping Rs 1.4 lakh crore.

“The trend that was being talked about, we are now reversing that and showing that the GST revenues remain above Rs 1.4 lakh crore. So, Rs 1.4 lakh crore is the rough bottom line, we are not going below that. We will remain above that,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the GST Day celebrations on Friday.
With the latest set of rate changes and tightening of norms, the government is hoping for further improvement in the coming months.
“The average monthly gross GST collection for the first quarter of 2022-23 has been Rs 1.51 lakh crore against the average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the first quarter of the last financial year, showing an increase of 37%. Coupled with economic recovery, anti-evasion activities, especially action against fake billers, have been contributing to the enhanced GST. The gross cess collection in this month is the highest since introduction of GST,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
Tax experts said that inflation too would have played a part in higher collections. “The consistent pattern of GST collections indicates that the Indian economy continues to show strong momentum. However, the said increase partly can be attributed to inflation and increased GST administration by the government,” said Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner at consulting firm EY India.
Among the states and union territories, Kerala (116% growth) and Ladakh (118% jump) were the top performers.
“The increase in state-wise collections compared to the same month last year is impressive as many large states have shown an increase in excess of 40%. Since this comes in the backdrop of the guaranteed compensation to states coming to an end, it would assuage many states who were worried about their revenue mobilisation ability in the post-cess period,” said M S Mani, a partner at Deloitte India.