Winning Bizness Economic Desk

Gross GST collection in March of this year moved northward by 11.5 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) to Rs 1.78-lakh-crore, according to a government statement. This is the second-highest monthly collection ever.

“This surge was driven by a significant rise in GST collection from domestic transactions at 17.6 per cent. GST revenue net of refunds for March 2024 is Rs 1.65-lakh-crore which is a growth of 18.4 per cent over the same period last year,” the union finance ministry said in a statement.

FY 24 marks a milestone with a total gross GST collection of Rs 20.14-lakh-crore exceeding the Rs 20-lakh-crore, an 11.7 per cent increase compared to the previous year.

The average monthly collection for this fiscal stands at Rs 1.68-lakh-crore, surpassing the previous year’s average of Rs 1.5-lakh-crore.

GST revenue net of refunds as of March 2024 for the current fiscal year is Rs 18.01-lakh-crore which is a growth of 13.4 per cent over the same period last year.

Last month, the government settled Rs 43,264-crore to Central GST (CGST) and Rs 37,704-crore to State GST (SGST) from the Integrated GST (IGST) collected, the union finance ministry said.

This translates to a total revenue of Rs 77,796-crore for CGST and Rs 81,450-crore for SGST for March 2024 after regular settlement.

For FY 24, the central government settled Rs 4,87,039-crore to CGST and Rs 4,12,028-crore to SGST from the IGST collected, the finance ministry said.

The IGST was at Rs 87,947-crore, including Rs 40,322-crore collected on imported goods while the cess stood at Rs 12,259-crore, including Rs 996-crore collected on imported goods.

Govt Meets Tax Collection Target for FY 24

The government has broadly met the tax collection target of over Rs 34.37-trillion for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY 24) driven primarily by very healthy economic activity and improved compliance, a government official said.

“Overall targets for tax revenue have been met,” the official told a leading news agency.

Here, it must be pointed out that the government had upped the direct tax collection target in FY 24 to Rs 19.45-trillion, while for indirect taxes (GST plus customs plus excise), the target was lowered to Rs 14.84-trillion in the revised estimates presented in Parliament.

Net direct tax collections (corporate tax and personal Income Tax) reached over Rs 18.90-trillion as of March 17 of this year.

Goods and Services Tax was a high point during FY 24 with collections reaching a record high of Rs 1.87-trillion in April 2023 and the second-highest collection being attained at Rs 1.78-trillion in March of this year.

The gross tax collection target as per the revised estimate stood at Rs 34.37-trillion for FY 24.

India’s Defence Exports Cross Rs 21,000-cr

The country’s defence exports have scaled “unprecedented heights” and crossed the Rs 21,000-crore mark for the first time, defence minister Mr Rajnath Singh said.

In a post on X, Mr Rajnath Singh said that “delighted to inform everyone that the Indian defence exports have scaled to unprecedented heights and crossed Rs 21,000-crore for the first time in the history of independent India.”

According to the defence minister, that India’s defence exports have reached the level of Rs 21,083-crore in FY 24 is a “spectacular growth” of 32.5 per cent over the previous fiscal.

The robust northward climb of 32 per cent indicates a growing acceptance of home-made military products across the globe, India’s defence minister said.

A point to be highlighted here is that this is a 31-times growth in the last ten-years as compared to 2013-14. Importantly, the private sector contributed nearly 60 per cent of the export while the defence public sector undertakings accounted for the rest.

Presently, India exports military hardware to 85 countries.

GDP Expected to Grow at 8 Per Cent and Above in Q4 and FY 24: FM Sitharaman

India’s economy is expected to grow at eight per cent or above in the last quarter of FY 24, leading to an equivalent growth for the whole of the last fiscal (FY 24), union finance minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman said.

“Hopefully the fourth-quarter of FY 24 will also have it in the range of eight per cent or above eight per cent resulting in 2023-24 having on average GDP growth of eight per cent or over eight per cent is what my expectation is,” Mrs Sitharaman said in her keynote address at the Mint India Investment Summit 2024.

Here, it must be pointed out that the country’s economy had expanded at 7.8 per cent in Q1, 7.6 per cent in Q2 and 8.4 per cent in Q3 of last fiscal (FY 24).

India’s GDP growth forecast for last fiscal has been upgraded by various institutions following the unexpectedly high 8.4 per cent growth in the third-quarter of the last fiscal.

Very recently, Goldman Sachs raised its 2024 economic growth projection for India to 6.6 per cent, up ten basis points (bps) from its previous projection.

On Inflation, Mrs Sitharaman said that the government was “playing in tandem with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)” to ensure that inflation was well within the tolerance band and that food inflation, in particular, was contained.

Seasonal food shortages can cause inflation spikes but Mrs Sitharaman reassured that the situation was under control, thanks to a dedicated group of ministers overseeing the matter.

The banking sector’s health has also now improved, she added.

Indian Coffee Exports Cross Rs 10,000-cr

India’s coffee exports in the just-concluded fiscal (FY 24) topped the Rs 10,000-crore mark, a new high in value terms. This was primarily driven by the surging trend in global robusta prices.

An important point to be noted here is that despite a marginal southward movement in volumes, shipments were at a new record.

What requires highlighting here is that FY 24 was the third consecutive year during which Indian coffee shipments clocked a new record.

In dollar terms, Indian coffee shipments registered an increase of 12.5 per cent to USD 1.26-billion over USD 1.12-billion in the 2022-23 fiscal. In Rupee terms, exports had climbed 16 per cent at Rs 10,491-crore over Rs 9,033-crore.

In quality terms, exports clocked a slight slide of 2.5 per cent at 3.88-lakh tonnes over the 3.98-lakh tonnes in the previous fiscal (2022-23).

A point to be highlighted here is that global robusta prices are at a three-decade high on supply issues in top producing countries such as Vietnam and Brazil.

In India, robusta is the most widely-produced variety.

As a result of high robusta prices, the per unit realisation for Indian exporters climbed up by about a fifth to Rs 2.7-lakh per tonne during 2023-24 as compared to Rs 2.26-lakh in the previous financial year.

India exports about two-thirds of around 3.5-lakh tonnes of coffee produced in the country. An interesting point here is that the country also imports cheaper robusta coffee to re-export them after value-addition.

Mobile Wallet Usage Likely to Grow at 18.3 pc, Touch USD 6.4-Trillion in 2028

India is presently witnessing an increasing usage of mobile wallets and it is projected that the digital payment mode will overtake traditional methods such as cash and cards going forward.

GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, in its report, said that mobile wallets and their usage was expected to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.3 per cent and reach Rs 531.8-lakh-crore (USD 6.4-trillion) in 2028.

An important point that needs highlighting here is that the value of mobile wallet payments in India expanded at a very healthy CAGR of 72.1 per cent between 2019-to-2023 to reach Rs 202.8-lakh-crore in 2023.

The acceptance of mobile wallets is mainly due to the government’s focussed efforts on digital payment methods like Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Launched in April 2016, it has ended FY 24 on a strong high, setting new records for both the volume and value of transactions undertaken during March 2024.

Transactions worth Rs 19.78-lakh-crore were processed during March 2024 which is higher than the previous record of Rs 18.41-lakh-crore set in January 2024.

A point to be highlighted here is that the value of transactions was 40 per cent higher, compared to that in March 2023, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

In the last fiscal, the UPI platform handled 13,115 transactions totalling Rs 199.29-lakh-crore, a significant increase from FY 23’s 8,376 transactions worth Rs 139-lakh-crore.

Transactions volume increased by 56.6 per cent while transactions value increased by 43.4 per cent during the year.

UPI launched services in Sri Lanka, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February 2024 with a view to expand its footprint globally and establish itself as a leading payment brand.

Agreements with countries such as Singapore and France are already in progress with more nations likely to join soon.