The Goods and Services Tax collection for the month of July rose to Rs 1,16,393 crore, after slipping below the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the first time in eight months in June, data released by the finance ministry showed on Sunday.

Of the total collection in July, Rs 22,197 crore came from Central GST, while Rs
28,541 crore came from the State GST component. Integrated GST collections amounted for Rs 57,864 crore (including Rs 27,900 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess was Rs 7,790 crore.

The GST revenues for July were 33% higher than the collection in the same month last year and 25.4% increase over the preceding month.

The government said the increase in revenues was indicative of fastpace economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. “The robust GST revenues are likely to continue in the coming months too,” the finance ministry added.

Most states reported positive growth in tax collection compared to July 2020. Odisha and Jharkhand reported a 54% uptick, followed by Haryana (53%) and Maharashtra at 51%, while Tamil Nadu and Gujarat registered 36% growth.

Kerala reported a 27% growth in GST revenues, even though it had strict restrictions in place to rein in the pandemic in comparison to Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan, which recorded a rise of 18%, 15% and 12%.

Deloitte India Senior Director MS Mani said the sharp jump in the collection indicated that economic activities had resumed in June. He added that it will raise the expectations of better revenues in the coming months, PTI reported.

“The improvement in GST collections both on domestic transactions and imports, accompanied by the fact that major producing states have shown significant increases, would indicate that the economic activities have resumed across the country,” he added.

EY Tax Partner Abhishek Jain said this collection figure was a definite indicator of economic recovery and the uptrend is expected to continue in future.