The Goods and Services Tax touched a record level of Rs 1.87 lakh crore (trillion) in April, the highest since the rollout of the indirect tax regime. The collection in April was 12 per cent more than the corresponding period last year when it touched of Rs 1.67 lakh crore..

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of April is Rs 1,87,035 crore of which CGST is Rs 38,440 crore, SGST is Rs 47,412 crore, IGST is Rs 89,158 crore (including Rs 34,972 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 12,025 crore, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Vivek Jalan, partner tax connect advisory, a multi-disciplinary tax consultancy firm, said: “While the ministry has hailed the highest ever GST Collections, yet statistically achievement may be termed as reasonable.

“The budget 2023 has projected an uptick of 12 per cent in GST collections in FY 23-24 vis-a-vis last FY. If inflation is expected at 5.5 per centand GDP Growth at 6 per cent, then the Indirect Tax Buoyancy is budgeted is not even 1 per cent.

“The CBIC is expected to achieve more, which it has not in April 2023 wherein the growth in GST collections is exactly 12 per cent.

“Possibly we could expect more activity in terms of automated scrutiny, etc in the rest of FY 23-24 to stay at par with the budget. The restriction on e-invoice to be done in seven days starting 1st May 2023, for some taxpayers, could be a step in this direction,” he said.

“GST collections displayed a robust year-end uptick with a 12 per cent expansion in April 2023, representing the transactions in March 2023. While collections have maintained a healthy 11-13 per cent growth in the recent months, a normalising base and some cooling of inflation may moderate the pace of expansion slightly in the coming quarter, although it would remain in the high single digits,” Aditi Nayar, chief economist, Icra said.

M.S. Mani, partner, Deloitte India said: “The record GST collections relate to the transactions during March 23, the closing month of FY23, where all organisations would have been keen to close the fiscal year on a high note.

“This comes on the back of the month GST collections crossing Rs 1.4 lakh crores continuously during FY23 and hence is a testimony to the good economic growth and the enhanced efforts aimed at improving compliances. Majority of large states have reported at a 20 per cent plus growth over the same period last year, indicating a broad level growth across sectors and states.”

During the month, the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 16 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.