New Delhi: Goods and Service Tax (GST) collections in March touched a record high of over Rs 1.23 lakh crore, a 27 per cent growth over the year-ago period, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.
"GST revenues crossed above Rs 1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic," the ministry said.
Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, income tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months, it added.
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of March 2021 stood at Rs1,23,902 crore, of which central GST is Rs22,973 crore, state GST is Rs 29,329 crore, integrated GST is Rs 62,842 crore (including Rs 31,097 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 8,757crore (including Rs 935 crore collected on import of goods).
"GST revenues during March 2021 are the highest since introduction of GST. In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of March 2021 are 27 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year," the ministry said in a statement.
According to experts, over Rs 1 lakh monthly GST collections for six consecutive months indicate recovery in the economy.
"Globally we might be entering phase - 2 of the pandemic; however, India is witnessing the bumper collections touching the highest ever mark indicating a recovery in businesses," Rajat Mohan, Senior Partner at AMRG & Associates, told ETV Bharat.
Major states registered double-digit growth
According to the official data, all the major states witnessed double-digit growth in GST collections last month over the year-ago period.
While Maharashtra leads the table with Rs 17,038 crore in revenue with the help of 14 per cent growth, Gujarat registered 20 per cent growth to mobilise Rs 8,197 crore.
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Similarly, Karnataka registered 11 per cent growth to take the collections to Rs 7,914 crore, Tamil Nadu is in the next place with a whopping 23 per cent growth and Rs 7,579 crore in collections.
Uttar Pradesh is in fifth place with 18 per cent growth and Rs 6,275 crore in collections.
Interestingly, the newly formed union territory Ladakh registered a massive 1527 per cent increase in collections on account of a low base (Rs 84 lakh) last year.
(With PTI Inputs)
