The gross GST collections during July rose 10.3% on year to Rs 1.82 trillion, data released by the finance ministry showed on Thursday. In June, the collections, which stood at Rs 1.74 trillion, had grown only 8% on year, at the slowest rate in three years.
Refunds issued during July stood at Rs 16,283 crore; and thus the net collections for the month came in at Rs 1.66 trillion, up 14.4% from the previous year.
Further, gross collections from domestic transactions in July rose 8.9% on year to Rs 1.34 trillion, while from imports, it soared 14.2% to Rs 48,039 crore.
For April-July, the gross collections stood at Rs 7.39 trillion, up 10.2% on year; and net collections at Rs 6.56 trillion, 11% more than the same period of FY24.
Pratik Jain partner PwC India, said that since growth in April-July is broadly in line with the budget estimates, the government and GST council should start working towards rate rationalisation.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech, on July 23, had said that to multiply the benefits of GST, “we (the government) will strive to further simplify and rationalise the tax structure and endeavour to expand it to the remaining sectors.”
MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India mentioned that while the gross GST revenues have shown an increase of 10.3% , it is interesting to observe that the growth in GST revenues from imports is more than that from domestic supplies. “These collections are based on supply transactions during June24, which is typically a slow offtake month before the onset of the festive season,’ he said.
Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner, EY said that looking ahead, a potential slowdown or decline in collections during August, compared to July, is expected due to the monsoon season’s influence on economic activity.