GST Collection Breaches Rs 1.5 Lakh Crore Mark In January
GST collections stood at Rs 1.55 lakh crore, the second-highest ever.
The Ministry of Finance announced the monthly collections of the goods and services tax ahead of the Union Budget on Wednesday.
The gross GST collected in January for transactions in December stood at Rs 1.55 lakh crore, rising from the previous month's tally of Rs 1.49 lakh crore.
GST data is released with a month's lag and pertains to transactions that took place in the preceding month.
Trends indicate that the last quarter usually registers increased collections. Monthly collections have continued to remain upwards of Rs 1.4 lakh crore since March 2022. The recent collections are higher than October's collections and the April figures, making it the second highest collection ever.
Collections hovered around the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark last month as well, missing the mark by a small margin.
Experts said that this was aided by manufacturing and consumption stability across states, and highlighted robust economic performance across key sectors.
January's collection is 24% higher than the corresponding period last year. During the month, revenues from import of goods were 29% higher and revenue from domestic transactions, including import of services, were 22% higher than revenue from these sources during the same month last year.
E-way bills picked up during the month to 8.3 crore, which is the highest so far, up from 7.9 crore in the previous month.
The government's budget estimates pegged the indirect tax target at Rs 13.30 lakh crore. Revised estimates for the fiscal will be revealed along with the country's financial outlay for the next financial year in the budget.
The total tax target for the fiscal currently stands at Rs 27.50 lakh crore.
Break-Up Of GST Collections (as on 5 p.m. on Jan. 31)
Gross GST revenue: Rs 1,55,922 crore.
Central GST: Rs 28,963 crore.
State GST: Rs 36,730 crore.
Integrated GST: Rs 79,599 crore (including Rs 37,118 crore collected on import of goods).
Cess: Rs 10,630 crore (including Rs 768 crore collected on import of goods).
The ministry credited the healthy collections to various policy changes introduced during the course of the year to improve compliance.
"The percentage of filing of GST returns (GSTR-3B) and of the statement of invoices (GSTR-1) till the end of the month, has improved significantly over years," according to a release.
In the October–December quarter, a total of 2.42 crore GST returns were filed till end of next month as compared to 2.19 crore in the same quarter in the last year.
