New Delhi:  India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection is expected to cross Rs 18 lakh crore in the current financial year that ends on March 31, reported Hindustan Times quoting two officials aware of the development.

In the first 11 months of FY23, the GST collection has already surpassed Rs 16 lakh crore, witnessing a 22.7 per cent year-on-year growth, according to data from the finance ministry.

It is expected that the growth trend will be maintained even in the last month and at least Rs 1.50 lakh crore revenue is expected in March, the officials added.

“According to a conservative estimate, even if the average Rs 1.49 lakh crore monthly GST collection (thus far in 2022-23) is maintained in the month of March, the total GST revenue for 2022-23 would be Rs 17.88 lakh crore, which is quote close to Rs 18 lakh crore mark. We expect to do better as collection data is still coming in,” one of them said.

The uptrend in GST collections both for the Centre and states was anticipated in advance. Hence, the Union government raised GST revenue numbers in the revised estimates (RE) for 2022-23, a second official said.

The Union government’s budget estimate (BE) for (central) GST collections in 2022-23 was Rs 7.80 lakh crore, but later, towards the end of the financial year (on February 1, 2023) the number was raised to Rs 8.54 lakh crore in the revised estimates (RE) of FY23.

The GST revenue in February 2023 recorded a 12 per cent year-on-year increase to a little over Rs 1.49 lakh crore, the fourth highest ever.