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 the 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.

Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY India, said: “The all-time high record GST collections of Rs 1.23 lakh crore and it being 27 per cent higher than last year is a significant uptick.”
“It clearly shows a sustained economic recovery and is also a result of GST audit closures and the government tightening compliance and anti-evasion measures.”

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 the last few months, it added.

Gross GST revenue collected in the month of March 2021 stood at Rs 1,23,902 crore, of which central GST is Rs 22,973 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 8,757 crore (including Rs 935 crore collected on import of goods).

“GST revenues during March 2021 are the highest since the introduction of GST. In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over the past five months, the revenues for the month of March 2021 are 27 per cent higher than the revenues in the same month last year,” the ministry said in a statement.

M.S. Mani, senior director, Deloitte India, said: “In addition to the trend of higher overall GST collections over the past six months, all major states have shown a significant increase compared with the previous year.

“Further, the increase in collections on imports accompanied by the rise in domestic transactions would indicate that the overall production/ consumption cycle is back to normal.”

During the month, revenues from import of goods was 70 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 17 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has released Rs 45,000 crore to the states as additional devolution in the 2020-21 fiscal following revenue buoyancy in the March quarter.