GST receipts’ growth rebounds to 10.3%; July kitty third-highest ever

India's GST collections in July hit ₹1.82 lakh crore, with revenue growth recovering to 10.3% from June's low.

India’s Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections hit their third-highest monthly level in July to cross ₹1.82 lakh crore, with revenue growth recovering to 10.3% from a three-year low of 7.6% in June. 

Gross revenue from domestic transactions grew 8.9% in July, easing from 9.4% recorded in June, but growth in taxes collected on imports bounced 14.2% from just 2.4% a month earlier. Sequentially, gross GST collections were 4.75% more than June’s kitty of ₹1,73,813 crore. After effecting refunds to taxpayers, net GST collections were up 14.4% in July at ₹1,65,793 crore, with net import revenue up 17.3% and domestic transactions clocking a 13.5% rise. July’s net GST revenues were 7.75% over June’s figure of just under ₹1.54 lakh crore. Net domestic revenues were 8.5% higher in June, while net receipts from imports had contracted 1.5% from June 2023 levels. 

Tax experts noted that a slowdown in refunds might be responsible for the sharper uptick in net tax collections vis-à-vis gross revenue. In June, refunds had grown 19.3% year-on-year, with both domestic and export-related refunds rising over 19%.

By contrast, domestic refunds had slipped 34.1% in July, while export-related GST funds rose 1.4%. Total refunds in July were 19.4% lower than a year earlier at ₹16,283 crore, which also marked an 18.4% drop from June’s refunds of nearly ₹20,000 crore. July’s revenue numbers are provisional and the actuals number may slightly vary on finalisation, an official statement said. 

Gross monthly GST receipts had hit a record high of over ₹2.1 lakh crore this April, while the second highest collections of ₹1.87 lakh crore were attained in the same month of 2023, with the revenue spike bolstered by financial year-end compliances in both instances.

The Finance Ministry, which generally shared monthly GST revenue numbers through a press release on the first of every subsequent month since the launch of the indirect tax regime in July 2017, had not issued such a statement for June. June’s GST collection figures were subsequently released on the indirect tax portal this Sunday.   

While total revenues from domestic transactions were 8.9% higher, as many as five States clocked a contraction, including Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, where tax receipts were down 7% each. Revenue growth was milder than the national average in nine States, including Telangana (up 2%), Punjab and West Bengal (3%), Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim (4%), as well as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar, that saw a growth of just 5% each.