The Centre has more or less met its tax collection target of over Rs 34.37 lakh crore for 2023-24 on the back of robust economic activity and improved compliance. The government had raised the target for direct tax collection in FY24 (April 2023 to March 2024) to Rs 19.45 lakh crore, while for indirect taxes (GST+ Customs + Excise) the target was lowered to Rs 14.84 lakh crore in the revised estimates (RE) presented in Parliament on February 1, 2024.
The net direct tax collections (comprising corporate tax and personal income tax) reached over Rs 18.90 lakh crore as of March 17.
A government official told news agency PTI on Tuesday: “Overall targets for tax revenue have been met.”
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) played a significant role in the previous financial year, with record collections surpassing Rs 1.87 lakh crore recorded in April 2023. A subsequent high figure of Rs 1.78 lakh crore was achieved in March 2024, making it the second-highest collection period for that fiscal year. According to revised estimates, the gross tax collection target for Fiscal Year ’24 was set at an ambitious Rs 34.37 lakh crore.
Gross GST collection in March 2024 jumped 11.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1.78 lakh crore. Total gross collection for FY24 stood at Rs 20.18 lakh crore, surpassing the revised budget estimate, compared to Rs 18.10 lakh crore in the previous financial year, showed official data released on Monday.
Of the total collection in March, central GST stood at Rs 34,532 crore, state GST was Rs 43,746 crore and integrated GST was Rs 87,947 crore, including Rs 40,322 crore collected on imported goods.
After regular settlement of IGST, the CGST stood at Rs 77,796 crore and SGST at Rs 81,450 crore for March.
For 2023-24, the Centre settled Rs 4.87 lakh crore towards CGST and Rs 4.12 lakh crore towards SGST.
“Gross good and services tax (GST) revenue for March 2024 witnessed the second highest collection ever at Rs 1.78 lakh crore, with an 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,” the finance ministry said in the statement.
Domestic consumption and government capex are the main drivers of the country’s economic momentum.
India grew above 8 per cent for three consecutive quarters (April-December) and various agencies have revised the growth estimates of India for FY24 closer to 8 per cent.
SBI Research and Moody’s expect GDP growth for FY24 to be 8 per cent. Fitch and Barclays raised their growth forecast to 7.8 per cent.
