Government collects Rs 20 lakh crore from GST in FY 24

New Delhi: Revenue collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST) surged by 11.7 per cent to Rs 20.18 lakh crore in the financial year ended March 31, as per data released by the union Finance Ministry on Monday.

March 2024 witnessed the second-highest collection ever at Rs 1.78 lakh crore, with an 11.5 per cent year-on-year growth, driven by a robust 17.6 per cent surge in mop-up from domestic transactions. The highest-ever GST collection was recorded at Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April 2023.

The average monthly GST collection in the financial year 2023-24 jumped to Rs 1.68 lakh crore against the previous year’s average of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. GST revenue net of refunds for financial year 2023-24 stood at Rs 18.01 lakh crore, registering a year-on-year growth of 13.4 per cent.

Robust growth in GST revenue collection, Manish Mishra, Partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors, said, “indicate a healthy economic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic and augurs well for the future.”

“Looking ahead, the prospects for heightened GST collections in the forthcoming quarter remain promising, particularly in light of the upcoming general elections,” said Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner, Ernst & Young.

States like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu led the surge in GST revenue collection. GST mop-up from Karnataka surged by 26 per cent to Rs 13,014 crore in March 2024 as against Rs 10,360 crore recorded in the same month last year. Maharashtra’s revenue collection surged by 22 per cent year-on-year to Rs 27,688 crore in March while Tamil Nadu witnessed 19 per cent jump in monthly GST revenue.

Maharashtra is the largest contributor to India’s GST kitty followed by Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

Of the total collections during the month of March, Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) stood at Rs 34,532 crore, State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) was Rs 43,746 crore and Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) was Rs 87,947 crore, including Rs 40,322 crore collected on imported goods. The cess collections stood at Rs 12,259 crore, including Rs 996 crore collected on imported goods.

“With this trend, it will not be surprising if the target for FY 25 is revised when the main Union Budget is presented after the formation of the new government,” said Pratik Jain, Partner, PwC India.

“Also, the collections, which are only likely to be better in coming months, may pave the way for the next wave of GST reforms including rate rationalisation,” Jain added.

In the month of March 2024, the central government settled Rs 43,264 crore to CGST and Rs 37,704 crore to SGST from the IGST collected. This translates to a total revenue of Rs 77,796 crore for CGST and Rs 81,450 crore for SGST after regular settlement.

“With the CGST collections surpassing the FY2024 RE, the implicit growth needed to meet the Interim Budget Estimate for FY2025 has come down to single-digits, which appears likely to be exceeded,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA.