GST collections at Rs 1.61 lakh crore in June, up 11.7% from last year

GST collections in June witnessed 12 percent increase on a year on year basis, a statement from the Finance Ministry said

The government collected Rs 1.61 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in June, the Ministry of Finance said on July 1. This is the third-highest monthly mop-up ever since the new indirect tax regime was introduced exactly six years ago.

At Rs 1.61 lakh crore, the GST collected in June is 11.7 percent higher on a year-on-year basis and 2.8 percent higher than what was collected in May.

Source: Ministry of Finance

Of the total, Central GST was Rs 31,013 crore, State GST was Rs 38,292 crore, Integrated GST was Rs 80,292 crore, and compensation cess was Rs 11,900 crore.

In June, the government settled Rs 36,224 crore to Central GST and Rs 30,269 crore to State GST from Integrated GST. As a result, the total revenue for the month post settlement was Rs 67,237 crore for the Centre and Rs 68,561 crore for State GST.

As per the 2023-24 Budget, the Centre expects its GST collections to rise by 12 percent in the current financial year.

The release of the data for June coincides with the sixth anniversary of the rollout of the GST, which the government now celebrates as 'GST Day'. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to attend an event marking the same later today on July 1 at 4PM. Also attending the programme will be Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, and Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs Chairperson Vivek Johri, among other finance ministry officials.

"The event will also see broad presentations on the impact of GST at various levels over the last 6 years," as per a finance ministry statement.

Monthly GST collections have risen over the years. From averaging under Rs 1 lakh crore per month in 2017-18 - its first year - collections have risen rapidly after the pandemic-hit 20202-21 to average Rs 1.51 lakh crore in 2022-23. So far in 2023-24, monthly GST collections have average Rs 1.69 lakh crore, helped in part by the record mop-up of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April.