GST collections rise 4.6% to Rs 1.96 lakh crore in October

GST collections for October

GST collections rose to a five month high of Rs 1.96 lakh crore in October, marking a 4.6 percent increase from the year-ago period--slowest pace in 52-months--government data released on November 1 showed.

Growth in collections nearly halved to 4.6 percent from a four month high of 9.1 percent in the previous month, even as total collections rose to Rs 1.96 lakh crore from Rs 1.89 lakh crore in the previous month.

October also extended the run of high inflows, making it the tenth consecutive month that revenues remained above the Rs 1.8 lakh crore mark. Collections had last crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore mark in May.

The slow pace of collections corresponds with the changes to the GST regime. In August, the prime minister announced rejig of the GST regime. On September 22, in a major reform, the government rationalised GST rates further by removing the 12 percent and 28 percent slab and moving 90 percent of the items to lower tax.

Net collections rose 0.6 percent to Rs 1.69 lakh crore, with domestic revenues flat from the previous year, while net customs revenue expanded 2.5 percent to Rs 37,210 crore.

Refunds in October rose 26.5 percent on the domestic side and 55.3 percent on customs side. Gross domestic revenues were up just 2 percent Rs 1.45 lakh crore from Rs 1.42 lakh crore in October 2024.

India's central bank expects the GST cuts to help push the economy in the coming months and cushion against the impact of US tariffs.

The Reserve Bank of India last month revised India's growth forecast upward to 6.8 percent compared with 6.5 percent projected earlier. The IMF in October also revised India's growth forecast upwards to 6.6 percent from 6.4 percent projected earlier.