GST mopup rises 8.9% to ₹1.87 lakh core in October

India collected ₹ 1.87 lakh crore in goods and services tax in October, marking the second-highest gross GST collection in any month to date, reflecting the resilience of the country's economy amid global uncertainties.

The collection was up 8.9% year on year.

Even when collections from customs and imports remained muted last month, festival demand kept the collections high with domestic GST collections rising 10.7% on year to ₹1.42 lakh crore, official data released on Friday showed. "GST collections close to 1.9 lakh crore and increase in GST collections on domestic supplies by 10% plus depict the robustness of the Indian economy," said Abhishek Jain, indirect tax head and partner at KPMG.

While most of the large states have shown an increase above the national average of 9%, GST collections from Tamil Nadu, Telangana and poll-bound Jharkhand were comparatively weak.

"The increase in GST collections on domestic supplies for the month and on a cumulative basis for FY24 is 10.5% compared to FY24 , indicating that domestic demand has largely been uniformly high during FY24," said MS Mani, tax partner at Deloitte India. Revenues from tax on imports rose about 4% to ₹45,096 crore.

The net GST revenue last month stood at ₹1.68 lakh crore, up 7.9% from October 2023, as there was a significant surge in processing of GST refunds.

Experts, however, remain cautious on the short-term outlook, saying recent global development may impact domestic demand even as the long-term tax collection prospects remain robust.

"Despite short-term uncertainties, the long-term prospects for GST collections remain promising due to India's expanding consumer base and the government's pro-growth policies," said Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner at EY.

He said November collections will be crucial to determine a short-term outlook. "The collections made this month on account of the festive season, particularly the performance of the automobile sector, will be crucial in determining the short-term trend," Agarwal said.

The government collected ₹33,821 crore as central GST last month, while state GST collection stood at ₹41,864 crore, integrated IGST at ₹99,111 crore and cess at ₹12,550 crore.