NEW DELHI: GST collections rose 13.9%, fastest pace in eight months, to Rs 1,94,812 crore on sharp growth in the mop-up from imports due to a spike in international prices of crude, fertiliser and other commodities.Latest data showed that in June, for transactions undertaken in May, IGST on imports shot up nearly 35% to over Rs 60,000 crore, while the collection from domestic sources was estimated to have gone up 6.5% to Rs 1,34,774 crore.Within that, state GST was further muted, registering a rise of 4.3% to Rs 45,116 crore, while central GST went up 8.2% to Rs 37,376 crore.Among states, Jharkhand was the worst performing with collections crashing 43%, followed by Chhattisgarh (down 18%) and Tripura (-14%). In contrast, Gujarat topped the growth charts, reporting a 27% increase, with Meghalaya (22%) and Goa (19%) coming in next.After factoring in refunds — which shot up 29% to Rs 32,436 crore — net collections were estimated to have gone up 11.2% to Rs 1,62,377 crore.“A key contributor to this month’s performance has been the growth in net GST collections from imports. This suggests increase in import of raw materials and intermediate goods, reflecting sustained manufacturing activity and continued momentum behind govt’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. The net domestic GST collections underscore the resilience of domestic economic activity,” said Mahesh Jaising, indirect tax leader at consulting firm Deloitte.“Data shows that consumption remains robust even under structural adjustments; and also challenges such as ITC accumulation on input services under the inverted duty structure, something which is expected that The GST Council would address in the July 2026 meeting in Kolkata,” added Vivek Jalan , partner, Tax Connect Advisory Services.There was also a word of caution. “The rising share of collections from imports warrants closer structural analysis. To mitigate this reliance and further catalyse domestic capacity, there is a compelling case for policy recalibration-specifically by redeploying unutilised outlays from the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes to strategically aggressively attract and scale high-value manufacturing within India,” said Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner at EY India.
