GST mop-up crosses Rs 1.5 lakh crore in October, growth slows to 17%

NEW DELHI: Goods and services tax (GST) collections rose 16. 6% to Rs 1,51,718 crore in October, the second highest monthly mop-up since the indirect tax regime was launched in mid-2017.
It was only the second time that collections crossed Rs 1. 5 lakh crore with the average monthly collections this year pegged at Rs 1,49,293 crore. While revenue collections are on course to beat the annual target, the pace of expansion in October was the slowest in the current fiscal year, according to data released by the finance ministry on Tuesday.
The government had been targeting Rs 1. 5 lakh crore collections for a while. At the same time, it is analysing the reasons for a slowdown on the import side. Experts attributed the increase to robust demand and improved administration.

“While the festive seasonin the last month has aided in the GST collections, the increased administration by both the Centre and states have also boosted the revenue growth. With both the revenue wings — CBDT and CBIC — charged with increasing the tax collections, healthy collections can be expected in the coming months too. The self-sustained economy seems to be trending with a further decline in the tax collections on imports due to various fiscal policies of the government of India,” said Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner at consulting firm EY India. The current trend is expected to continue.
“The sharp sequential pickup in the headline GST collections in October 2022 reflects a combination of quarter-end flows relating to the transactions in the previous month, as well as the surge inGST e-way bills ahead of a robust festive season. With the festive season in October, the generation of GST e-way bills is expected to have remained high, which should bolster the GST collections in November. The dip in the YoY growth in GST collections in October was expected given the normalising base, and may continue in the next few months,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA.