Festive season boosts GST collection by 15% in November

New Delhi: Revenue collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST) in November came in at Rs 1.68 lakh crore, up 15 per cent year-on-year, the highest annual growth so far in the current financial year. Revenues from domestic transactions, including import of services, surged by 20 per cent.

The November figures, however, were lower than the Rs 1.72 lakh crore mop-up recorded in the previous month, official data released on Friday showed. It is for the sixth time that the gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.60 lakh crore mark in FY24. The highest ever GST revenue collection was recorded in April 2023 when it stood at Rs 1.87 lakh crore.

“The upward trend in GST collections continues as expected on the back of festive seasons and further increase in audits and investigations. This trend is likely to continue for the remainder of this fiscal as well,” said Pratik Jain, Partner at PwC India.  

Cumulative revenue collection from GST in April-November period of the current fiscal stands at Rs 13.32 lakh crore, 11.9 per cent higher than the same period last year, and averaging Rs 1.66 lakh per month. 

Monthly GST collection in Karnataka surged to Rs 11,970 crore in November, posting a year-on-year growth of 17 per cent. Revenue mop-up in Tamil Nadu surged by 20 per cent, Maharashtra 18 per cent, Gujarat 16 per cent, and Delhi 17 per cent.

“The healthy growth in GST collections is enthusing, although it may partly reflect the later onset of the festive season this year,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA.

Gunjan Prabhakaran, Partner & Leader, Indirect Tax, BDO India, expressed a similar view. “One of the factors, which contributed to the year on year basis growth is the delayed festive season in this year,” said Prabhakaran.