March GST collection surges to over Rs 1.23 lakh cr

The GST revenues during March 2021 are the highest since the introduction of the tax.

"In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of March 2021 are 27 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"During the month, revenues from import of goods were 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."

According to the statement, the gross GST revenue collected in the month of March 2021 is at a record high of Rs 123,902 crore of which CGST is Rs 22,973 crore, SGST is Rs 29,329 crore, IGST is Rs 62,842 crore and cess is at Rs 8,757 crore.

"The government has settled Rs 21,879 crore to CGST and Rs 17,230 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. In addition, Centre has also settled Rs 28,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between Centre and States or UTs."

"The total revenue of Centre and the states after regular and ad-hoc settlements in the month of March 2021 is Rs 58,852 crore for CGST and Rs 60,559 crore for the SGST. Centre has also released a compensation of Rs 30,000 crore during the month of March  2021."

ICRA Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said: "The healthy GST collections in the month of March 2021, along with the additional devolution of Rs 45,000 crore to the state governments for the just-concluded fiscal, confirm our view that the tax revenues in FY2021 have exceeded the 'RE'."

"As a result, we continue to expect the GoI's fiscal deficit to undershoot the FY2021RE of Rs 18.5 trillion, suggesting ample cash balances at the start of FY2022."

Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY India, said: "The all-time high record GST collections of 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 also is a result of GST audit closures and the Government tightening compliance and anti-evasion measures."