The collections from the goods and services tax rose 13 per cent to Rs 1.72 lakh crore in October. The GST revenue is the second-highest for a month after Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April.
Analysts said festive demand pushed up collections besides an overall momentum in the economy and efforts by taxmen to check evasion. Collections in September stood at Rs 1.63 lakh crore.
However, the growth in collection from April to October at 11 per cent is less than the budgeted 12 per cent, which could impact the fiscal deficit.
Vivek Jalan, partner, Tax Connect Advisory, said even a 1 per cent deficit in GST revenue from budget can have a 0.03 per cent or so impact on the fiscal deficit target.
Icra chief economist Aditi Nayar said collections benefited from quarter-end adjustments related to transactions in the previous month.
EY Tax Partner Saurabh Agarwal said, “with the stable collection, the government can now consider rate rationalisation as the next task”.
Of the total Rs 1.72 lakh crore, central GST collections stood at Rs 30,062 crore, while state GST was Rs 38,171 crore.
The collections in integrated GST (IGST) were Rs 91,315 crore, including Rs 42,127 crore from imports. Cess stood at Rs 1,294 crore.
Parag Mehta of NA Shah Associates said: "Spate of notices, anti-evasion drive, DGGST investigations have led to substantial collections. September to December is a festive period where consumer spending is substantial on high-value items."
