GST collection rises 11% to over Rs 1.65 lakh crore in July

It is for the fifth time, gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.60 lakh crore mark.

Revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July jumped by 10.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.65 lakh crore, the third-largest monthly mop-up, helped by robust growth in collections from the major contributing states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

GST collection in Karnataka surged by 17 per cent to Rs 11,505 crore in July 2023 as compared to Rs 9,795 crore recorded in the same month last year. In fact, GST revenue collection in Karnataka posted robust growth for two consecutive months. In June it had registered a growth of 27 per cent , while in May GST collection in Karnataka posted an increase of 12 per cent year-on-year.

Collections in Maharashtra jumped by 18 per cent year-on-year to Rs 26,064 crore. Maharashtra is the largest contributor to the country’s GST kitty followed by Karnataka.

Growth in revenue collections in Uttar Pradesh (24 per cent ), Delhi (25 per cent ), Tamil Nadu (19 per cent ), Bihar (18 per cent ) and Haryana (17 per cent ) were higher than the national average.

However, there was a sluggish increase in revenue collections in the states like Gujarat (7 per cent ), Chhattisgarh (4 per cent ), Rajasthan (9 per cent ), Andhra Pradesh (5 per cent ) and Telangana (7 per cent ).

GST revenue collection in violence-hit Manipur dipped by 7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 42 crore in July from Rs 45 crore recorded in the same month last year. Manipur is the only state where GST collection during the month was lower than July 2022.

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of July 2023 stood at Rs 1,65,105 crore of which central goods and services tax (CGST) is Rs 29,773 crore, state goods and services tax (SGST) is Rs 37,623 crore, integrated goods and services tax (IGST) is Rs 85,930 crore and cess is Rs 11,779 crore, as per data released by the union finance ministry on Tuesday.

The IGST includes Rs 41,239 crore collected on import of goods during the month while the total collection of cess during the month includes Rs 840 crore collected on import of goods.

The government has settled Rs 39,785 crore to CGST and Rs 33,188 crore to SGST from IGST, the finance ministry said.

The total revenue of Centre and the States in the month of July 2023 after regular settlement is Rs 69,558 crore for CGST and Rs 70,811 crore for the SGST.

During the month of July 2023, the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 15 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. It is for the fifth time, the gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.60 lakh crore mark.

There is a clear divergence between revenues on collections on account of domestic transactions (including imports of services) and that on account of imported goods, with the latter averaging at just 0.8 per cent year-on-year during April-July 2023, reflecting the compression in merchandise imports, said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.

“This divergence is set to continue owing to the expectation of a contraction in merchandise imports in FY2024,” she added.

Nayar noted that GST collections need to exceed Rs 1.65 lakh crore per month in the remaining eight months of this fiscal to meet the FY2024 target for CGST revenues of Rs 8.1 lakh crore.