GST mop-up grows 12% YoY in June to Rs 1.61 lakh crore

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Monthly GST collection crossed the Rs 1.60 lakh crore mark for the fourth time ever, riding a vigorous economy, continued economic momentum and strong anti-evasion measures. “Monthly GST collection remaining over Rs 1.6 lakh crore is a new normal,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday at an event marking six years of GST. She added that even the tax buoyancy of states had improved after the launch of the single tax, even without taking GST compensation into consideration.

“State GST revenues witnessed a buoyancy of 1.15… without compensation 1.15… which is much higher than compared to pre-GST times,” said the finance minister, referring to the factor by which tax revenue grew faster than income. She added that pre-GST revenue growth was 8.3%, below the GDP growth of 11.5%. Meanwhile, according to industry estimates, auto companies sold 327,700 cars, sedans and utility vehicles last month.

In percentage terms, the increase was only 1.9% from a year earlier because of the base effect — the industry sold 326,600 units in a rebound from Covid times. Consumption of petrol rose 3.4%, while that of diesel dropped 3.7%, year-on-year in June in a sharp slowdown from May’s sales boom, according to state oil marketing companies’ preliminary data. In May, sales of petrol and diesel had grown 10% and 12%, respectively, over the previous year.

The Reserve Bank of India has forecast 8% growth in the June quarter and 6.5% for all of FY24. India’s economy grew a better-than-expected 7.2% in FY23. Experts say increased focus on compliance and enforcement has helped boost GST revenue.