Slowing consumption in recent months appears to be taking a toll on GST collections. While growth in collections at the national level was lower compared to the last fiscal year, many of the larger states, particularly in South India, have reported subpar growth in the first half of this year. From April to October 2024, total domestic GST collections grew by 10.
5 per cent y-o-y to ₹9.65 lakh crore. This is around 4 percentage points less than the 14.
6 per cent growth recorded for the same period in April to October 2023. However, there are wide variations among the top states. While Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi managed to clock higher-than-average GST growth at 11.
7, 10.9, 10.7, 12, and 20 per cent, respectively, the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala are trailing the national growth by a significant margin.
Tamil Nadu’s GST collections for the seven months at ₹75,078 crore have seen a 6 per cent y-o-y growth compared to a 16.8 per cent rise in the same period last year. Telangana’s GST collections grew 5.
2 per cent compared to 15.9 per cent in the prior period. Andhra Pradesh’s GST collections grew 4 per cent compared to 8 per cent.
Experts note that there could be various factors that lead to variations in GST growth across states, and revenue is not just influenced by population size but also by states’ purchasing power, income levels, and consumption basket. “If you look at the basket of GST, so.