DD India

Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection jumped by 13% Year over Year (Y-o-Y) to ₹1.72 trillion in October this year. This is the second highest-ever GST revenue collection ever.

Notably, this is the second-highest gross GST revenue collection next to April month of this financial year. Out of the total gross GST, ₹30,062 crore is CGST, ₹38,171 crore is SGST, ₹91,315 crore is IGST and ₹12,456 crore is cess. The total revenue of Centre and the States in October stood at ₹72,934 crore for CGST and ₹74,785 crore for SGST.

During October, revenue from domestic transactions (including import of services) was also 13% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

Cumulatively, the gross GST mop-up in the first seven months of the current fiscal year stood at Rs 11.65 trillion, 11.4% higher than the corresponding period of last year. The average monthly GST collections so far in FY24 stands at Rs 1.66 trillion.

Besides buoyancy in economic activity, mainly on the services front, elevated inflation also contributed to the robust GST mop-up during the year. Also, with the advent of the festive season, the collections are expected to rise even further in the near term.

Total collections of Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST) mop-up in October–post settlement from Integrated GST (IGST) collections–stood at Rs 72,934 crore and Rs 74,785 crore, respectively.

The total CGST collections in April-October stand at Rs 4.87 trillion, accounting for 60% of the Budget estimate of Rs 81.16 trillion. And during the same period in FY23, cumulative CGST collections accounted for 50.6% of the actual collections. This indicates the actual CGST collections in FY24 may exceed the Budget estimate (BE) by a considerable margin.

Collections from Cess in October were at Rs 12,456 crore – taking total cess collections in the first seven months to Rs 82,957 crore, comprising 57.2% of BE. In April-October FY23 too, total cess collections accounted for 57% of actual mop-up.

Buoyancy in GST collections coupled with sharp growth seen in direct tax mop-up would help the Centre meet its fiscal deficit target of Rs 17.87 trillion, or 5.9% of the GDP, in the current fiscal year particularly when the Centre is likely to incur more-than-budgeted expenditure.

State Collection Trends

Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka, retained the top spots owing to the size of their consumption base and prevalence of industries. Maharashtra recorded Rs 84,712 crore in collections after SGST settlement, growing at 14% annually.

Karnataka collected Rs 42,657 crore after the settlement of SGST, growing 12% annually.

Tamil Nadu recorded the third-highest collection, indicating strong consumption momentum, beating Gujarat for the second straight month.

Tamil Nadu recorded Rs 37,476 crore (9% on-year increase) in September collections after settlements, while Gujarat reported Rs 36,322 crore (10% annual growth).