According to government figures released on Thursday, the total money collected from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in August was 1.44 lakh crore. This was the sixth month in a row that this number above this barrier, which analysts have dubbed the "new normal."
The collecting trend has persisted despite global headwinds like the Ukraine crisis and China's economic recession, indicating that corporate activity and spending in India have remained strong. This is especially significant considering the current problem of high inflation. Data from the Union finance ministry that was made public on Thursday showed that, with the exception of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Tripura, and Chhattisgarh, all states had double-digit year-over-year growth. Tax revenue from the GST increased by 24% in Maharashtra, 29% in Karnataka, 19% in Tamil Nadu, 14% in Uttar Pradesh, and 21% in Haryana. West Bengal saw a 25% revenue increase, Punjab 17%, and Delhi 21%.
The August collection ($1,43,612 crore) was 3.6% lower than July's ($1.48,995 crore) collection, although it was 28.2% greater than the same time one year prior. Experts claimed that GST collections appeared to have stabilised around $1.4 lakh crore and that the reason July's figure was the second-highest ever was because it represented the real business transactions of June, the last month of the first quarter.
“The state wise collections figures indicate that the increase in production and consumption across goods and services is spread across states and is not confined to a few industrial pockets. The GST collections data is reflective of economic growth across states and sectors,” he said. The Union Finance Ministry stated in a statement that the continued high collections show "very high buoyancy" and that "this is a clear impact of numerous measures adopted by the [GST] Council in the past to promote better compliance."