GST revenues up 18% to Rs 1.33 lakh cr in February as Omicron wave ebbs

Collections stayed above the ₹1.3 lakh crore mark for the fifth time, but slipped from the record high of ₹1.4 lakh crore recorded in January 2022.

Experts say collections could exceed the upwardly revised estimates for FY22 in the budget on February 1 with the economy remaining resilient.

“GST collections exceeding ₹1.33 lakh crore, despite the challenging pandemic situation in Jan ’22, indicates that the collections are now on a stable trajectory and the FY22 targets would be exceeded,” MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India, said.

Agencies

The Centre has revised the target for GST collections for the current financial year from ₹6.3 lakh crore to ₹6.75 lakh crore.

According to Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA, central GST revenues are likely to exceed the government’s FY22 revised estimates by up to ₹0.3 lakh crore.

“With the robust rise in GST e-way bill generation in February 2022, we expect a sequential uptick in the GST revenues in the current month,” Nayar added.

This is the first time, cess collection has crossed the ₹10,000 crore mark, signifying recovery in certain key sectors, especially automobile sales, the finance ministry said in a statement. “The revenues for 2022 are 18% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 26% higher than in February 2020,” it said.

During the month, revenues from imports of goods were 38% higher and revenues from domestic transactions including imports of services were 12% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year, it said.

However, the growth was divergent among states. GST collections rose the most over the preceding year in Odisha – from ₹3,341 crore in February 2021 to ₹4,101 crore in February 2022 at 23%.

Maharashtra and Karnataka also recorded 21% GST revenue growth while in Tamil Nadu the collection increased by 5% year-on-year.

The government has settled ₹26,347 crore to CGST and ₹21,909 crore to state GST from Integrated GST.

The total revenue of centre and the states in February 2022 after regular settlement is ₹50,782 crore for CGST and ₹52,688 crore for SGST.