April GST collections: Robust, reasonable: Experts

Chennai, May 2 (IANS) Experts are voicing mixed views - robust, reasonable - on the Rs 1.87 trillion of goods and services tax (GST) collections made in April 2023 up from about Rs 1.60 trillion for March 2023.

"The GST collections displayed a robust year-end uptick with a 12% expansion in April 2023, representing the transactions in March 2023," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, Head - Research & Outreach, ICRA Ltd.

"While collections have maintained a healthy 11-13 per cent growth in the recent months, a normalising base and some cooling of inflation may moderate the pace of expansion slightly in the coming quarter, although it would remain in the high single digits," Nayar added.

On the other hand Vivek Jalan, Partner Tax Connect Advisory was of the view that the April 2023 collection achievement may be termed as reasonable statistically.

"The budget 2023 has projected an uptick of 12 per cent in GST Collections in FY 23-24 vis-a-vis last FY. If inflation is expected at 5.5 per cent and GDP Growth at 6 per cent, then the Indirect Tax Buoyancy budgeted is not even 1 per cent," Jalan said.

According to Jalan, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is expected to achieve more, which it has not in April 2023 wherein the growth in GST Collections is exactly 12 per cent.

"Possibly we could expect more activity in terms of automated scrutiny, etc in the rest of FY 23-24 to stay at par with the Budget. The restriction on e-invoice to be done in 7 days starting 1st May 2023, for some taxpayers, could be a step in this direction," Jalan added.

Terming the GST collections last month as record-breaking Gautam Mahanti, Business Head, IRIS Tax Tech, said it is a clear indication of the positive impact of e-invoicing and strengthened compliance regulations, coupled with India's thriving economy.

As anticipated, the 12 per cent growth from the previous year in April 2022 (Rs 1.67 lakh crore) is attributed to the rise in e-way bills generated in March 2023 (Rs 9.09 crore), which witnessed a 16 per cent growth from the same period last year (Rs 7.81 crore in March 2022), Mahanti said.

"With the addition of new taxpayers and the government's focus on digitization and transparency, we anticipate that the collections will surpass Rs 2 lakh crore in the upcoming financial year," Mahanti added.