The goods and services tax (GST) collections in India reached a historic high of ₹2.10 lakh crore in April 2024. However, as former central government Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian has pointed out, the GST revenue for fiscal 2023–24 (FY24) has not yet surpassed the pre–GST level.
The former CEA, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, took to social media platform “X” to lament that, despite improved implementation and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s GST revenue, even after seven years, remains below the pre-GST level at 6.1% of GDP.
Additionally, according to the former CEA, the government did not release the refunds figure until February 2024, giving the false appearance that collections were revenues. ‘’Kudos to @FinMinIndia for changing that and acting to enhance transparency. Monthly releases now provide both numbers,” stated Subramanian.
“This represents a significant 12.4 per cent year-on-year growth, driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions, up 13.4 per cent, and imports, up 8.3 per cent,” mentioned a finance ministry statement.
Maharashtra led the way with the highest collections, of ₹37,671 crore, showing a 13% growth; Karnataka was second with ₹15,978 crore collected in the month, showing a 9% growth; Gujarat was third with ₹13,301 crore; Uttar Pradesh with ₹12,290 crore collections, up 19%, was higher than Tamil Nadu’s collections at ₹12,210 crore.
‘’The all-time high GST collection in April 24 has come on the back of strong growth in GST collections from Northern States like UP, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi etc. The GST collection in April month has traditionally been higher (the previous highest GST collection was also achieved in April, 23), given that it reflects the economic activity in the month of March, which is the last month of the fiscal year,” added Gunjan Prabhakaran, Partner & Leader, Indirect Tax at BDO India.
