GST revenue grows over 44 per cent in May

NEW DELHI: India’s GST revenue collection in May stood at Rs 1,40,885 crore, 44% higher on a year-on-year basis, as per the government data. This is the third consecutive month when the GST revenue crossed Rs 1.4 lakh crore mark. Also, since the GST regime was implemented in July 2017, this is the fourth time when the GST revenue crossed this threshold.

Out of GST revenue of Rs 1,40,885 crore, CGST is `25,036 crore, SGST is Rs 32,001 crore, IGST is Rs 73,345 crore (including Rs 37469 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,502 crore (including Rs 931 crore collected on import of goods), finance ministry data revealed. In addition, the government has also released GST compensation of Rs 86,912 crore to states and UTs on May 31, 2022.

During the month, revenue from import of goods was 43% higher on a year-on-year basis. Also, the revenue from the domestic transaction including the import of services was 44% higher than the revenues from these sources in the same month of last year.

Meanwhile, experts don’t seem to be very impressed with the elevated collection amid inflationary pressure and more imports. “Current peaking of GST tax revenue seems to be a product of two interrelated global forces - inflationary prices of goods and services being consumed plus volume of imports going up at the same time, which are also higher in prices,” said Deepanshu Mohan, associate professor and director at Centre for New Economics Studies, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, OP Jindal Global University.

“ The high-frequency data on tax buoyancy is tricky and we need to see the overall trend. Ease of doing business or ease of filing returns is also crucial,” Lekha S Chakraborty, Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) stated. “The crucial determinant of tax buoyancy is economic growth recovery.”

GST revenues cross 1.4 L cr mark for 3rd month

This is the third consecutive month when the GST revenue crossed Rs 1.4 L cr mark. Also, since the GST regime was implemented in 2017, this is the fourth time when the GST revenue crossed this threshold