GST mop-up grows 12% YoY in June to Rs 1.61 lakh crore

Goods and services tax (GST) revenue rose 12% in June to `1.61 lakh crore from the year earlier, maintaining a robust pace, showed data released on Saturday, the sixth anniversary of the single tax that replaced multiple indirect levies in 2017. Bolstering the theme, automobile companies reported a sixth straight month of 300,000-plus sales in June, indicating a strong first FY24 quarter for the economy. Fuel demand eased in the month from May highs.

Monthly GST collection crossed the Rs 1.60 lakh crore mark for the fourth time ever, riding a vigorous economy, continued economic momentum and strong anti-evasion measures.

“Monthly GST collection remaining over Rs 1.6 lakh crore is a new normal,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday at an event marking six years of GST.

She added that even the tax buoyancy of states had improved after the launch of the single tax, even without taking GST compensation into consideration. “State GST revenues witnessed a buoyancy of 1.15… without compensation 1.15… which is much higher than compared to pre-GST times,” said the finance minister, referring to the factor by which tax revenue grew faster than income. She added that pre-GST revenue growth was 8.3%, below the GDP growth of 11.5%.

Meanwhile, according to industry estimates, auto companies sold 327,700 cars, sedans and utility vehicles last month. In percentage terms, the increase was only 1.9% from a year earlier because of the base effect — the industry sold 326,600 units in a rebound from Covid times.

Consumption of petrol rose 3.4%, while that of diesel dropped 3.7%, year-on-year in June in a sharp slowdown from May’s sales boom, according to state oil marketing companies’ preliminary data. In May, sales of petrol and diesel had grown 10% and 12%, respectively, over the previous year. The Reserve Bank of India has forecast 8% growth in the June quarter and 6.5% for all of FY24. India’s economy grew a better-than-expected 7.2% in FY23.

Experts say increased focus on compliance and enforcement has helped boost GST revenue. “They (collections) indicate that the extensive focus of the authorities on the compliance and ongoing audits have streamlined the approach of all businesses towards GST,” said MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India.

Collections are rising in the 10-20% band in many of the large states, indicating the uniformity of growth and centralised approach to building tax compliant behaviour, he said. This will continue to be a key focus area. “With the approaching limitation period for 17-18 and continued focus on anti-evasion measures, the increasing trend in collections is expected to continue,” said Abhishek Jain, partner and national head, indirect tax, KPMG in India.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs chairman Vivek Johri warned that the department will pursue tax evaders with the help of advanced data analytics. “I warn those who continue to do this that we will come at them with a very heavy hand,” Johri said at the event. “We want a larger but clean taxpayer base so honest taxpayers are protected.”

He said the GST authorities had busted 304 syndicates, unearthing 9,000 fake GSTINs and input tax credit claims of `25,000 crore in the ongoing drive against bogus firms. Average gross GST collection for the June quarter was Rs 1.10 lakh crore, Rs 1.51 lakh crore and Rs 1.69 lakh crore in FY21, FY22 and FY23 respectively, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Gross GST revenue collected in June 2023 was Rs 1,61,497 crore, with central GST contributing Rs 31,013 crore, state GST Rs 38,292 crore, and integrated GST Rs 80,292 crore (including Rs 39,035 crore collected on import of goods), the statement said. Cess collection was Rs 11,900 crore, including Rs 1,028 crore collected on the import of goods. Revenue from domestic transactions, including import of services, was 18% higher than a year earlier. GST hit an all-time high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April. In May, it was Rs 1.57 lakh crore.