GST collections in June saw a 56 per cent year-on-year increase to over Rs 1.44 lakh crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday as she urged tax officials to ensure that the system is so transparent that even an iota of discretion isn’t there, Trend reports citing The Print.

Gross GST collection in June is the second highest after April, when it was around Rs 1.68 lakh crore.

Speaking at the GST Day celebrations, the Minister said that within five years of its implementation, the Goods and Services Tax is showing its potential and Rs 1.40 lakh crore is now the ” approximate result” of monthly GST receipts.

“The gross GST revenue collection for the month of June is Rs 1,44,616 crore, an increase of 56% from the same month last year. So the trend that was talked about, we are now reversing it and showing that GST revenues remain above Rs 1.40 lakh crore. So Rs 1.40 lakh crore is the ballpark result, we don’t go below that. We will stay above that,” she said.

It is the fifth time that monthly GST collections have crossed the 1.40 lakh-crore mark since the inception of the GST and the fourth month in a row since March 2022, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement. .

“Coupled with the economic recovery, anti-evasion activities, especially actions against false invoices, have contributed to the improvement of the GST,” the ministry added.

Out of the GST of Rs 1.44 lakh crore collected in June, Central GST is Rs 25,306 crore, State GST is Rs 32,406 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 75,887 crore (including Rs 40 102 crore collected on importation of goods) and the tax is Rs 11,018 crore (including Rs 1,197 crore collected on importation of goods).

Gross cess collection in June is the highest since the introduction of the GST.

Revenue from the sale of goods and services was Rs 92,800 crore in June 2021, while last month it exceeded Rs 1.41 lakh crore. Furthermore, the average gross monthly GST collection for the April to June quarter of the current financial year was Rs 1.51 lakh crore.

In June, income from the import of goods increased by 55% and income from domestic transactions (including the import of services) increased by 56% compared to income from these sources in the same month l last year.

The total number of e-way bills generated in May 2022 was 7.3 crores, 2% less than the 7.4 crores of e-way bills generated in April 2022, the ministry added.

Speaking to tax officials, Sitharaman said the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBIC) has been responsive to industry suggestions and the tax arbitrage that existed between states prior to the removal of the rollout. the GST.

The GST enabled compliance and removed cascading and overlapping taxes, Sitharaman said.

“The GST has removed discretion to a large extent, there is no way to seek rent… But I would still argue that we should be better at removing even a small iota of discretionary power. If so, we should just make sure the system is so transparent, that the whisper of claiming discretion somewhere should be completely removed,” she added.

A national Goods and Services Tax (GST), which included 17 local levies such as excise duty, service tax and VAT and 13 taxes, was implemented on July 1, 2017.