BackCentre, states net ₹1.56 tn GST in Jan
Central and state governments collected ₹1.56 trillion in GST in January, marking the second-highest collection ever and an improvement of 24% from a year ago, the finance ministry said
PremiumNEW DELHI : Central and state governments collected ₹1.56 trillion in goods and services tax (GST) in January, marking the second-highest collection ever and an improvement of 24% from a year ago, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The highest-ever GST collection was in April, when revenue receipts stood at ₹1.68 trillion.
In January, after settlement for inter-state sales, the total revenue of the Centre was at ₹67,470 crore and of states was at ₹69,354 crore, the ministry said.
Receipts from GST cess stood at ₹10,630 crore (including ₹768 crore collected on import of goods)," the finance ministry said in a statement.
Revenues in the current financial year—up to January—are 24% higher than the goods and services tax revenues reported during the same period last year.
In December, 83 million e-way bills were generated, significantly higher than the 79 million e-way bills generated in the previous month, a trend that pointed to robust revenue collections in January.
E-way bills are needed for high-value shipments of goods within and across states and are taken as a high-frequency indicator of economic activity by analysts.
“Over the last year, various efforts have been made to increase the tax base and 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 the years," the ministry said.
The high number of e-way bills in December clearly indicates an uptick in economic activity, said Abhishek Jain, partner, indirect tax at KPMG in India.
“With the Economic Survey 2022-23 indicating that the taxpayer numbers have almost doubled from the initial 2017 numbers, it seems that such high goods and services tax collections can be expected to be normal for the coming months," Jain added.
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