New Delhi, Apr 1 (FN Bureau) Indicating rise in business activity, the Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue for the month of March 2024 witnessed the second highest collection ever at Rs 1.78 lakh crore with a 11.5 per cent year-on-year growth. This surge was driven by a significant rise in GST collection from domestic transactions at 17.6 per cent. GST revenue net of refunds for March 2024 is Rs 1.65 lakh crore which is growth of 18.4 per cent over same period last year, Ministry of Finance said in a statement. With record second highest ever collection in the last month of March, the fiscal year 2023-24 also ended with a milestone with total gross GST collection of Rs 20.14 lakh crore exceeding Rs 20 lakh crore received in the previous financial years.
The yearly collection is 11.7 per cent increase from the previous year. “Record collections exceeding Rs 20 lakh crore during 2023-24 demonstrates the economic resurgence across sectors and was possible due to the various measures taken by the GST authorities to improve compliance and stamp out evasion,” MS Mani, Partner Deloitte India, said in a statement. The big focus on the comparison of tax payer behavior across tax and corporate databases has also made business convinced on the need to be compliant not only their activities, but also keep track of their vendors tax behavior and ensure that entire value chain becomes compliant, he added. The average monthly collection for this fiscal year stands at Rs 1.68 lakh crore, surpassing the previous year’s average of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. GST revenue net of refunds as of March 2024 for the current fiscal year is Rs 18.01 lakh crore which is a growth of 13.4 per cent over same period last year.