April GST defies headwinds to post record-shattering mop-up
Gross goods and services tax (GST) collection surged 12.6% year-on-year in April to a record ₹2.37 lakh crore, in a buoyant start to this financial year. The surge reflects strong domestic consumption, greater formalisation of the economy and improved compliance.
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Net GST receipts, which factor in refunds, also scaled a fresh peak of ₹2.09 lakh crore last month, up 9.1% from a year before, showed official data released Thursday.
"The figures showcase the resilience of the Indian economy and the effectiveness of cooperative federalism," Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman wrote on X.
The robust growth came on an unfavourable base-gross collection had hit the previous high of ₹2.10 lakh crore in April 2024-and despite external headwinds. It also marked the continuation of strong collections in recent months, after a 9.9% year-on-year increase in March to ₹1.96 lakh crore and 9.1% improvement in February to ₹1.84 lakh crore.
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GST Ecosystem Deepening Across Geographies
GST collection from domestic transactions went up 10.7% to almost Rs 1.90 lakh crore, while that from imported goods jumped 20.8% to ₹46,913 crore, suggesting a broad-based increase.
Refunds jumped 48.3% to ₹27,341 crore last month, with experts indicating that the online refund processes had stabilised.
Pratik Jain, partner at PwC India, termed "encouraging" the strong GST mop-up growth despite geopolitical headwinds. "Also, it's good to see that most of the manufacturing states have witnessed double-digit growth," he said.
MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India, said, "The GST collections (in April) have been uniformly high in all the major producing/consuming states and have been in the range 11% to 16%, unlike in previous months when there were some large states having lower growth."
He said at least five states-UP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu-have now recorded more than a million GST registrations each, out of the pan-India total of 15 million.
"Congratulations and sincere regards to the dedicated efforts (of) Finance Ministers of all states and state GST authorities, who remain equal partners in India's GST framework," said the FM.
UP accounts for the largest number of registrations, while the highest GST revenue flows from Maharashtra.
Some of the north-eastern states have recorded solid growth in collection in April. Arunachal Pradesh recorded a 66% increase, followed by Meghalaya (50%), Nagaland (42%) and Sikkim (17%).
"This signifies that India's GST ecosystem is not just expanding-it's deepening across geographies," said Sivakumar Ramjee, executive director (indirect tax) at Nangia Andersen LLP.
Some experts expect the strong momentum to continue in the coming months, underpinned by a pickup in consumer sentiment.
The RBI's latest
Consumer Confidence Survey
indicates a broad-based improvement in sentiment around current conditions and expectations for the year ahead. It is backed by more positive assessments of both income and spending.
The data showed gross central GST mop-up in April was to the tune of ₹48,634 crore, while
state GST collection
hit ₹59,372 crore.
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