India collected Rs 1.44 lakh crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) in August, registering an increase of 28 percent from the mop-up a year back, the finance ministry said on September 1.
However, when compared to the money collected in July, the August GST mop-up was 4 percent lower.
"For six months in a row, the monthly GST revenues have been more than the Rs 1.4-lakh-crore mark," the finance ministry said in a statement.
Of the total GST collections, Central GST was Rs 24,710 crore, while State GST was Rs 30,951 crore. Integrated GST was Rs 77,782 crore and cess was Rs 10,168 crore.
The government settled Rs 29,524 crore to Central GST and Rs 25,119 crore to State GST from Integrated GST. As such, post settlement, the total revenue of the Centre and the States in July was Rs 54,234 crore and Rs 56,070 crore, respectively.
So far in FY23, total GST collections have amounted to Rs 7.46 lakh crore, 33 percent more than what was collected in the first five months of FY22.
"This is a clear impact of various measures taken by the (GST) Council in the past to ensure better compliance. Better reporting coupled with economic recovery has been having positive impact on the GST revenues on a consistent basis," the finance ministry said.
While overall GST collections posted an impressive year-on-year growth in August, several states and Union Territories (UTs) continued to see less than 14 percent year-on-year growth in their revenues.
In all, 14 states and UTs saw their GST revenues rise by less than 14 percent in August: Andaman and Nicobar Islands (-21 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (+11 percent), Assam (+10 percent), Chhattisgarh (+2 percent), Daman and Diu (+4 percent), Himachal Pradesh (+1 percent), Jammu and Kashmir (+11 percent), Lakshadweep (-73 percent), Manipur (-22 percent), Rajasthan (+10 percent), Sikkim (+13 percent), Telangana (+10 percent), Tripura (no change), and Uttarakhand (no change).
In July, 11 states and Union Territories had posted sub-14 percent growth in GST revenues.
With the protected GST revenue period having ended on June 30, states are no longer compensated if their collections aren't 14 percent higher from the corresponding month last year.
Although states have asked the Centre to continue compensating them for any shortfall in revenues for another two to five years as they fear a hit to their finances amid the economic weakness caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Centre has not responded positively.
The Centre's stance is that the onging economic recovery should result in GST revenues anyway rising significantly and do away the need for any compensation.
Commenting on the GST collection data, MS Mani, a partner with Deloitte India, said they reflect the strength of the underlying economic factors.
"With the onset of the festival season, which is typically a large consumption driver for all businesses, the GST collections in the coming months would also be expected to be robust," Mani added.
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