GST mop-up rises 12% to ₹1.5 lakh crore in Feb

New Delhi: India's goods and services tax (GST) collections rose 12% to ₹1.5 lakh crore in February from the year earlier, indicating that economic activity remained steady, according to official data released Wednesday.

A separately released private monthly survey showed that the manufacturing sector was little changed. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 55.3 in February, against 55.4 in January, albeit the lowest in four months. Meanwhile, domestic passenger vehicles sales rose 10.6% to a record for February amid sustained consumer demand and improved supplies from automakers.

GST collections were lower than ₹1.58 lakh crore recorded in the previous month, but remained above ₹1.40 lakh crore for the 12th month in a row.


"The revenues for the month of February 2023 are 12% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year, which was ₹1,33,026 crore," the finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ministry pointed out that February typically sees a relatively lower GST collection as it's a shorter month.

Cess Collection
The collection of cess was the highest since the implementation of GST at Rs 11,931 crore, the data showed. This is levied on high-end goods, including some consumer durables and automobiles falling in the highest GST slab of 28%.

"The fact that all the large states have reported significant increases ranging from 10% to 24% compared with the same month last year, does indicate that the economic growth and the steps taken to improve compliance are yielding results," said MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India.

The GST revenue data reflect stability, said Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner, EY India.

"February 2023 being a month of 28 days, the collection is much in line with the new normal of GST revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore," he said. "This is a likely indicator that the Indian economy remains stable compared to global cues."

Revenue from domestic transactions, including the import of services, was 15% higher while that from the import of goods was 6% higher than in the year earlier. Of the total collections, central GST (CGST) was Rs 27,662 crore, state GST (SGST) was Rs 34,915 crore, and integrated GST (IGST) was Rs 75,069 crore, including Rs 35,689 crore on the import of goods.

The sequential dip in GST collections was partly on account of the boost to the January figure from the quarter-ended inflows for the month of December, which were remitted in the following month, said Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA.

On the divergence in the growth of the revenue from import of goods and that from domestic transactions, Nayar said, "The GST revenues from imports of goods are likely to have been dampened by the sequential and y-o-y contraction in merchandise imports in January 2023."

The government has settled Rs 34,770 crore toward CGST and Rs 29,054 crore toward SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of the Centre and the states after regular settlements in February was Rs 62,432 crore on account of CGST and Rs 63,969 crore on account of SGST.

In addition, the Centre also released the remaining GST compensation of Rs 16,982 crore for the month of June 2022 and Rs 16,524 crore to states and Union territories which have sent the Accountant General's certified figures for the previous period, the ministry said.

Local passenger vehicle sales rose to a record for February, up 10.6%, to 335,269 cars, sedans and utility vehicles, from 303,213 units sold in the same period last year.