GST collections for April scale record high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore

The Centre expects its GST collections to rise by 12 percent in 2023-24.

The government collected a whopping Rs 1.87 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April, according to data released by the Union finance ministry.

At Rs 1.87 lakh crore, the GST collected in April is an all-time high by a substantial margin. The previous record high was Rs 1.68 lakh crore, collected in April 2022.

The GST collected last month is up 11.6 percent from April 2022. Compared to March 2023, the latest GST collections figure is up 16.8 percent.

Source: Ministry of Finance

Of the total, Central GST was Rs 38,440 crore, State GST was Rs 47,412 crore, Integrated GST was Rs 89,158 crore, and compensation cess was Rs 12,025 crore.

In April, the government settled Rs 45,864 crore to Central GST and Rs 37,959 crore to State GST from Integrated GST. As a result, the total revenue for the month post settlement was Rs 84,304 crore for the Centre and Rs 85,371 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 Centre expects its GST collections to rise by 12 percent in 2023-24.

The finance ministry said in a statement that April 20 saw the highest-ever tax collection on a single day.

"On 20th April 2023, Rs 68,228 crore was paid through 9.8 lakh transactions. The highest single day payment last year (on the same date) was Rs 57,846 crore through 9.6 lakh transactions," the ministry said.

The April GST collections are significantly higher than trend. However, collections are usually higher in the first month of a financial year. In fact, ever since the GST was introduced in July 2017, April has seen collections hit a new record high. The only exception is April 2020, when the economy was reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and was in the midst of a nationwide lockdown.

"The record GST collections relates to the transactions during March, the closing month of 2022-23, where all organisations would have been keen to close the fiscal year on a high note," said MS Mani, Partner, Deloitte India.

"This comes on the back of the month GST collections crossing Rs 1.4 lakh crore continuously during 2022-23 and hence is a testimony to the good economic growth and the enhanced efforts aimed at improving compliances. Majority of large states have reported at a 20 percent-plus growth over the same period last year, indicating a broad level growth across sectors and states," Mani added.

While many states did post 20 percent-plus growth in their GST collections in April, as many as 14 states and Union Territories recorded less than 14 percent growth in their revenues. These include Chandigarh (2 percent), Odisha (3 percent), Gujarat (4 percent), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (5 percent), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (5 percent), Rajasthan (5 percent), Andhra Pradesh (6 percent), Meghalaya (6 percent), Puducherry (6 percent), Delhi (8 percent), Bihar (11 percent), and Kerala (12 percent). The worst figures were for Lakshadweep, which saw its collections fall by 7 percent compared to the same month last year.