Karnataka has overtaken Gujarat in goods and services tax collections in the first six months of this fiscal year, taking the second place behind Maharashtra among states.

Gujarat was second in GST collections during the same period last year, and Karnataka was third.

Since May this year, Karnataka has consistently outpaced all big states, including Maharashtra, in GST collection growth.

Karnataka’s commercial taxes commissioner C Shikha attributed the southern state’s strong performance to better compliance by dealers as well as increased vigilance by authorities.

The state’s impressive performance comes close on the heels of its capital, Bengaluru, overtaking national capital Delhi to emerge as the second highest direct tax paying city after Mumbai in the last financial year (2021-22).

This fiscal year, Karnataka’s total GST collection at Rs 59,035 crore in the first six months was still less than half of Maharashtra’s Rs 1,32,544 crore. For Gujarat, this was Rs 56,679 crore.

Karnataka reported 60% (vs 44% all India) growth in the GST collections over the same period last year in May, 73% (56%) in June, 45% (22%) in July, 29% (19%) in August and 25% (22%) in September. For the first half this fiscal year, the increase was 38% from a year earlier.

The tax collection growth for both Karnataka and Maharashtra was faster than the national average in September, according to government data.

Nationally too, GST collections have remained strong. For seven months in a row this calendar year, India’s monthly GST revenues have been more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore. The growth till September in the calendar year over the same period last year was 27%.

This is a clear impact of various measures taken by the GST Council to ensure better compliance, according to an earlier statement from the union finance ministry. Better reporting coupled with economic recovery has been having a positive impact on the GST revenue on a consistent basis.

The finance ministry has also attributed the robust collections to the GST portal being glitch-free. In September, the GST portal saw 11-million-plus e-way bills and e-invoices being generated, setting a new milestone.

Source: The Economic Times
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