April GST collections hit all-time high of ₹1.68L-cr

NEW DELHI: Revenue collections from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) surpassed ₹1.5 lakh crore for the first time since the new indirect tax regime started in July 2017, with highest ever collections in April at about ₹1.68 lakh crore, mainly because of better compliance, rapid economic recovery and rising prices of consumables.

GST collections maintained a streak of record collections for the second time in a row and three times in 2021-22 (₹1.39 lakh crore in April 2021, ₹1.40 lakh crore in January and ₹1.42 lakh crore in March), with highest ever gross collections in April at ₹1,67,540 crore, nearly 18% more than the previous record of ₹1,42,095 crore in March, according to official data.

“This shows clear improvement in compliance behaviour, which has been a result of various measures taken by the tax administration to nudge taxpayers to file returns timely, to making compliance easier and smoother and strict enforcement action taken against errant taxpayers identified based on data analytics and artificial intelligence,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Higher GST collections between ₹1.4 lakh crore and ₹1.5 lakh crore are likely to continue for the rest of the current financial year to March 2023 because of stricter technology-based compliance and various reforms such as corrections in inverted duty structure on certain items such as footwear, experts said.

“While ₹1.4-₹1.5 lakh crore is a new normal, inflation is also one of the factors that led to higher GST collections in April,” one of them working in a leading global consulting firm said, asking not to be named.

India’s retail inflation soared to 6.95% in March, the highest in 17 months, breaching the Reserve Bank of India’s 6% upper tolerance limit for the second successive month. Wholesale inflation also surged to a four-month high of 14.5% in March because of higher global crude oil and primary commodity prices.