September GST collection at ₹1.48 lakh crore, the third highest ever

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in September this year saw a 26% year-on-year jump at ₹1.48 lakh crore, the third highest ever collections crossing the ₹1.40 lakh crore mark for the seventh consecutive month on robust business activities despite global economic slowdown. While the gross GST revenue collection in September at ₹1,47,686 crore — reflecting actual business transactions undertaken in August — is ₹2,314 crore short of ₹1.50 lakh crore, both government officials and industry experts expect to cross the mark next month on enhanced primary sales during the festival season. GST monthly collections stabilising above Rs1.4 lakh crore for seven months in a row would provide more headroom in the fiscal front, said MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India. “The collections in the next three months are expected to be even more robust due to the higher consumption expected during the festive season and the extension of the mandatory e-invoice protocol to taxpayers having turnover above ₹10 crore from October 1,” he added. “It is noteworthy that these collections reflect supplies made in August. With the festive season coming up, the GST collections can further be expected to go up in the coming months,” Abhishek Jain, Partner Indirect Tax at KPMG in India said. “This is the eighth month and for seventh months in a row now, that the monthly GST revenues have been more than the ₹1.4 lakh crore mark. The growth in GST revenue till September 2022 over the same period last year is 27%, continuing to display very high buoyancy,” Union finance ministry said on Saturday. The monthly GST collection for the first time crossed the ₹1.4 lakh crore mark in January ( ₹1,40,986 crore) and barring February ( ₹1,33,026 crore) the collections crossed the mark since March ( ₹1,42,095 crore). The cumulative GST collections in April-September 2022 was ₹8,93,334 crore, with an average monthly collection of 1,48,889 crore, according to official data. Also Read | Govt extends deadline to levy ₹2 per litre additional tax on unblended auto fuelThe streak of robust GST collections started from the first month of the current financial year when April 2022 revenues surged an all-time high at ₹1,67,540 crore. Later, the month of July saw the second highest collections at ₹1,48,995 crore. Out of the total gross GST revenue collected in the month of September 2022, the central GST (CGST) component is ₹25,271 crore, state GST (SGST) is ₹31,813 crore, integrated GST (IGST) is ₹80,464 crore (including ₹41,215 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is ₹10,137 crore (including ₹856 crore collected on import of goods), the ministry said in a statement. According to experts, high cess collections reflect rising demand of luxury goods such as automobiles. “The stability in cess collection after a few months is an indicator that demand for goods such as automobile, cigarettes and aerated beverages has remained constant and has not shown further decline,” said Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner at consultancy firm EY. “This month witnessed the second highest single day collection of ₹49,453 crore on 20th September with second highest number of 8.77 lakh challans filed, next only to Rs. 57,846 crore collected on 20th July 2022 through 9.58 lakh challans, which pertained to end of the year returns,” it said adding that the development also reflects the robustness of the GST portal. September also saw another milestone getting crossed when more than 1.1 crore e-way bills and e-invoices, combined (72.94 lakh e-invoices and 37.74 lakh e-way bills), were generated without any glitch on the portal on September 30, it said. Agarwal said the state-wise GST revenue data show significant increase in “consumption pattern coupled with increase in taxable base” in percentage terms compared to same month previous year from states and Union territories such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. “The generation of 1.1 crores e-way bill and e-invoicing in a single day showcases a stability in the IT infrastructure… However, it is important for the big business houses to move to private Invoice Registration Portals appointed by the government in order to share the load of data which is likely to be increased due to increase in number of assesses liable to generate e-invoices from 1 October 2022,” he said.