Day ahead of Budget, FinMin reports robust GST mop up of Rs 1.56 trn in Jan

The figure amply indicates that tax revenues are likely to remain strong in 2022-23, and may help the Centre retain the 6.4% fiscal deficit target for the current financial year

The goods and services tax (GST) yielded Rs 1.56 trillion in January, the highest after Rs 1.68 trillion in April of the current financial year. The figure, coming a day ahead of the Budget, amply indicates that tax revenues are likely to remain strong in 2022-23, and may help the Centre retain the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP for the current financial year despite rise in subsidies on account of food and fertilisers.

Collections in April are generally quite upbeat. As such, the GST receipts in January, precisely at Rs 1,55,922 crore, were robust, breaching the earlier second highest record clocked in October, 2022. These are the figures till 1700 hrs on the last day of January, which indicates the collections could ultimately be a bit more.

This is the third month that GST collections crossed the Rs 1.50 trillion mark in 2022-23 till January.

It’s a sweep

• Rs 1.56 trn GST mop-up in Jan’23 marks the third occasion in FY23 when collection crossed Rs 1.5-trn figure
• Rs 1.68 trn collection in April’22 is the highest GST mop-up
• 24% YoY more GST revenue in FY23 (until January)