After maintaining a steady growth of 11-13% over the past few months, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April recorded the highest collections ever of Rs 1.87 lakh crore, crossing for the first times the Rs 1.75 lakh crore mark. Experts and industry players said the unprecedented indirect tax recoveries point to the robust growth of the Indian economy on a strong recovery in consumer demand.
Mahesh Jaising, Partner and Leader (Indirect Tax) at Deloitte India, said, “This phenomenal growth (in GST collections) is attributable to taxpayer year-end compliances for 2022-23, overall growth in economy and the push of the GST. audits. Tax authorities are hard at work for tax collections using data analytics and risky identification of taxpayers.”
He added that the momentum is expected to continue as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week called on the CBIC to introduce automated returns control and step up the fight against false invoicing and input tax.
Ajay Singh, chairman of industry body ASSOCHAM, said: “The highest ever GST collection of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April marks a great start to FY24. The GST figures point to robust growth in the Indian economy, thanks to a strong recovery in consumer demand.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called record collections “good news for the Indian economy”, adding that the increase in tax collection despite lower tax rates shows the success of how the GST has increased integration and compliance.
Stating that the growth of e-invoices in March 2023 also contributed to GST recoveries, Gautam Mahanti, Chief Business Officer at IRIS Tax Tech, said: “As expected, the 12% growth in April 2023 compared compared to the previous year in April 2022 (Rs 1.67 lakh crore) is attributed to the increase in electronic transport bills generated in March 2023 (Rs 9.09 crore), which witnessed a growth of 16% compared to the same period last year (Rs 7.81 crore in March 2022). »
He also said record GST collection of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April 2023 is a clear indication of the positive impact of e-invoicing and enhanced compliance regulations, coupled with India’s booming economy. .
Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist and Head (Research and Outreach) at CIFAR, said: “While collections have maintained healthy growth of 11-13% in recent months, a basis for normalization and some cooling Inflation may slightly moderate the pace of expansion over the next quarter, although it would remain in the high single digits.”
Collection of GST in April 2023
GST collections in April 2023 jumped 12% year-on-year to its highest level ever of Rs 1,87,035 crore. At the state level, Maharashtra posted the highest GST collections with Rs 33,196 crore, followed by Karnataka (Rs 14,593 crore), Gujarat (Rs 11,721 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 10 320 crore).
All states recorded an increase in collections, with the highest year-on-year growth percentages coming from the northeastern states (Sikkim – 61%, Mizoram – 53%, Manipur – 32%, Nagaland – 29%, Tripura – 25%, Arunachal – 21%, Assam – 15%), J&K – 44% and other states like Goa – 32%, Karnataka – 23%, Maharashtra – 21%.
Saloni Roy, partner at Deloitte India, said growth in Odissa and Gujarat’s GST collection year-on-year at 3% and 4%, respectively, was unusual but would likely be offset in the following months.
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