GST rings in nearly ₹1.41 lakh crore in May

Collections were 44% higher than May 2021, but 15.9% below April’s record kitty

India’s gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues in May were 44% higher than a year ago at ₹1,40,885 crore, with receipts from domestic transactions and services imports rising at the same pace and goods imports yielding 43% higher taxes.

“This is only the fourth time the monthly GST collection crossed ₹1.40 lakh crore mark since the inception of GST and the third month at a stretch since March 2022,” the Finance Ministry said.

Explaining the month-on-month dip in revenues from the record ₹1.67 lakh crore GST inflows in April 2022, the Ministry said the revenues in May are for transactions undertaken in April, and have ‘always been lesser’ than April’s GST revenues. GST collections in April reflect the returns filed in March, pertaining to the financial year closing, it noted.

“However, it is encouraging to see that even in the month of May 2022, the gross GST revenues have crossed the ₹1.40 lakh crore mark. Total number of e-way bills generated in the month of April 2022 was 7.4 crore, which is 4% lesser than 7.7 crore e-way bills generated in the month of March 2022,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Revenue growth from domestic transactions, including imports of services, has outpaced revenues from goods imports after several months. In April 2022, for instance, revenues from domestic transactions rose 17% while goods imports yielded a 30% uptick.

Of the total revenue in May, Central GST collections were ₹25,036 crore, State GST ₹32,001 crore, and Integrated GST at ₹73,345 crore, which includes ₹37,469 crore collected on import of goods.

GST Compensation Cess inflows, used to recompense States, amounted to ₹10,502 crore, including ₹931 crore collected on import of goods). This was only marginally lower than ₹10,649 crore collected in April.