The goods and services tax (GST) collections came in at Rs 1.49 trillion in December 2022 (largely November transactions), up 15.2% on year and a modest 2.5% increase sequentially, reflecting the festive sales and a somewhat steady pace of economic revival.

The collections, which are the third-highest this fiscal, are in line with the average monthly mop-up of Rs 1.49 trillion so far this fiscal against the average Rs 1.23 trillion in 2021-22. Buoyed by the high inflation as well as the normalisation of economic activities, the government is hopeful of exceeding the budgeted target of Rs 6.6 trillion for Central GST receipts by at least Rs 1.5 trillion.

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The mop-up was Rs 1.45 trillion in November. It touched a peak of Rs 1.67 trillion in April 2022, followed by the second-highest collection of Rs 1.52 trillion in October. Monthly GST revenues have been higher than Rs 1.4 trillion for the 10th month in a row.

According to government data, out of the gross GST revenue in December, Central GST was Rs 26,711 crore, state GST Rs 33,357 crore, integrated GST Rs 78,434 crore (including Rs 40,263 crore collected on import of goods) and cess Rs 11,005 crore (including Rs 850 crore collected on import of goods).

“During the month, revenues from import of goods was 8% higher and the revenue from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 18% higher than the revenue from these sources during the same month last year,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

During November 2022, 79 million e-way bills were generated against 76 million in October 2022.

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“Monthly collection of Rs 1.5 trillion seems to be the new normal even after peak festive sales are over. Also, the collections have demonstrated a fantastic growth vis-a-vis last year,” said Abhishek Jain, partner, indirect tax at KPMG.

MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India, said the 18% increase in the GST revenues from domestic transactions viewed with the increase in e-way bill issuance and the significant increase in GST collections by key manufacturing and consuming states would be indicative of a sustained manufacturing and consumption cycle across recent months.

Among the states and UTs, Dadra and Nagar Haveli (37%), Bihar (36%), Chandigarh (33%), Rajasthan and West Bengal (24% each), Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh (26% each), and Tamil Nadu (25%) registered strong growth in GST collections during December 2022 compared with a year ago. The government has settled Rs 36,669 crore to Central GST and Rs 31,094 crore to state GST from integrated GST as regular settlement. The total revenue of Centre and the states after regular settlements in December 2022 is Rs 63,380 crore for CGST and Rs 64,451 crore for state GST, the ministry added.