GST collection at nearly Rs 1.56 lakh crore in January, second highest ever

India saw its second highest ever Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in January 2023 at nearly Rs 1.56 lakh crore, said Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, a 24% increase from year-ago period. GST collection crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore-mark for the third time in FY23.

The highest ever GST collection stands at Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April 2022.

"The gross GST revenue collected in the month of January 2023 till 5:00 PM on January 31, 2023 is Rs 1,55,922 crore of which CGST is Rs 28,963 crore, SGST is Rs 36,730 crore, IGST is Rs 79,599 crore (including Rs 37,118 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,630 crore (including Rs  768 crore collected on import of goods)," said Ministry of Finance. 

The government has settled Rs 38,507 crore to CGST and Rs 32,624 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of Centre and the states in the month of January 2023 after regular settlement is Rs 67,470 crore for CGST and Rs 69,354 crore for the SGST.

The revenues in the current financial year upto the month of January 2023 are 24% higher than the GST revenues during the same period last year. 

''Over the last year, various efforts have been made to increase the tax base and improve compliance. The percentage of filing of GST returns (GSTR-3B) and of the statement of invoices (GSTR-1), till the end of the month, has improved significantly over years,'' the ministry said.

In the October-December 2022 quarter, a total of 2.42 crore GST returns were filed till the end of the next month compared to 2.19 crore in the same quarter of the last year. This is due to various policy changes introduced during the year to improve compliance, it added.