April GST mop–up surges to record Rs.2.36 lakh crore amid robust growth

Boosted by year-end business, collections from Goods & Services Tax (GST) surged to an all-time high of over ₹2.36 lakh crore in April, the Finance Ministry reported on Thursday. The previous high was ₹2.10 lakh crore in April last year. The year-on-year growth stands at 12.6 per cent. Significantly, the growth in collections from domestic sources stood at 10.7 per cent, while the growth from import-based sources was a robust 20.8 per cent. Refunds of export GST surged by over 86 per cent, while the growth in domestic refunds exceeded 22 per cent. While the uptick in refunds impacted net collections, it was still over ₹2 lakh crore and close to gross collections in April last year. According to MS Mani, Partner at Deloitte India, the upward trend in refunds during the past few months has continued this month, indicating that the online refund processes have now achieved a good degree of stability. “It is interesting to note that there are now more than five States, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, each with 10 lakh GST registrations, out of the overall 150 lakh registrations across India.
These States also account for the bulk of GST collections, although the State with the largest number of registrations is Uttar Pradesh while the State with the highest revenues is Maharashtra,” he said. Vivek Jalan, Partner, Tax Collect, observed stark variation between the growth of GST revenues of the Central and the State jurisdictions. In Tamil Nadu, the growth in GST revenue of the Central formulations is 9.3 per cent while that of State formulation is 17 per cent. “This aspect may be looked into by the State CGST and SGST authorities,” he said. Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner, EY India, said that though some moderation is expected in May, that would not impact the fundamentals of the economy. “While a potential moderation in absolute GST collections is anticipated next month due to the current global economic climate, the overall outlook for the economy remains optimistic. This positive sentiment is likely to be fuelled by emerging manufacturing opportunities as businesses seek to establish alternative supply chains globally to mitigate future tariff-related disruptions,” he said.