The government received Rs. 1,51,718 crores in revenue in October. CGST made up Rs. 26,039 crores of this, and SGST Rs. 33,396 crores.
The bumper collection is a staggering 16.6% higher than a year ago, making it the second-highest amount since the beginning of the infamous indirect tax structure.
The collection has been fairly high since June consecutively at over Rs. 1.4 lakh crores but it didn’t cross the Rs. 1.5 lakh crores mark until the month of October.
Due to tariffs and asset prices, higher costs, and much more compliance, GST collections grew by 28% in August to Rs. 1.43 lakh crores, remaining above Rs. 1.4 lakh crores for the sixth consecutive month.
According to the detailed breakdown provided by the government, the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) collected Rs. 77,279 crores of the total revenue, while the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) collected Rs. 74,665 crores (SGST). The strong revenue collections were also boosted by the fact that the number of electronic licences for the transfer of commodities between and within states increased significantly, in September. Compared to Rs. 7.7 crores in August 2022, Rs. 8.3 crores of e-way invoices were produced in September.
State-wise Collection
The month’s revenues varied significantly among the big States. While revenue growth was larger than the national average in Haryana (37%), Karnataka (33%), Kerala (29%), West Bengal (26%) and Tamil Nadu (25%), it was lower in Gujarat and Telangana (11%), Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (10%) and Uttar Pradesh (16%).
The experts have pointed out that the rise in the collection was somewhat expected due to the festive spending and is expected to rise further through the following months.
“October 2022 reflects a combination of quarter-end flows relating to the transactions in the previous month, as well as the increase in GST e-way bills ahead of a solid Christmas season,” ICRA Chief Economist, Aditi Nayar told media.
Fall-out States
Several states experienced negative GST growth in October despite the sizeable overall collection. Compared to neighbouring Ladakh, which had a revenue increase of 74%, Jammu and Kashmir saw a dramatic 34% decline.
Chhattisgarh (-3%), Assam (-13%), Mizoram and Manipur (-23% apiece), and Bihar (-1%) are other states with negative GST growth.
