GST collection may top ₹1.5 lakh cr from Oct: Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj

Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj on Wednesday said he expects GST collection to top the ₹1.5-lakh-crore-mark from October.Revenue collection from goods and services tax (GST) has been trending at over ₹1.4 lakh crore in the past six months consecutively but has not crossed the ₹1.5-lakh-crore-mark yet on a consistent basis.The August collection of ₹1.43 lakh crore is up 28 per cent on-year but lower than ₹1.49 lakh crore in July. Only once the collection crossed the ₹1.5 lakh crore mark– a record ₹1.67 lakh crore mopped in April 2022.Addressing a CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) function here this evening, Bajaj said, “For the last couple of months, we’ve been trying very hard to reach that milestone of ₹1.5 trillion (lakh crore). But we have been failing a bit sometimes by ₹2,000 crore and sometimes by even ₹6,000 crore.”The revenue that we will collect in October, the data of which will come on November 1, I am sure from that month onwards the CBIC on a regular basis shall deliver ₹1.5 trillion revenue for the government,” the Union secretary said.Addressing the same event presided over by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her junior minister Pankaj Chaudhary wherein she handed over the keys of an apartment complex for CGST officers and staff here, CBIC chairman Vivek Johri said, the Mumbai zone the CBIC is the largest in the country with four sub zones manned by 41 commissioners.The Mumbai zone contributes 18 per cent of CGST and 25 per cent of customs duty collections and the megapolis also chips in with 7 per cent of the national GDP, Johri said underlining the importance of the financial capital.GST collections rose 28 per cent in August to ₹1.43 lakh crore, remaining above the ₹1.4-lakh crore-mark for the sixth straight month, aided by rising demand and inflation, higher rates, and greater compliance. In the year-ago period the mop-up was ₹1,12,020 crore.”Better reporting coupled with economic recovery will have a positive impact on GST revenue on a consistent basis,” the finance ministry said in a statement.Of the gross GST collection in the month, CGST is ₹24,710 crore, SGST is ₹30,951 crore, IGST is ₹77,782 crore (including ₹42,067 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is ₹10,168 crore (including ₹1,018 crore collected on import of goods), the ministry said.