GST collections in February dropped to Rs 97,247 crore from Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the previous month, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.

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However, compliance improved and the number of sales return or GSTR-3B filed for the month of January up to February 28, 2019 stood at 73.48 lakh. This is higher than 73.3 lakh returns filed in January.

"The total gross GST revenue collected in February 2019 is Rs 97,247 crore of which Central GST is Rs 17,626 crore, State GST (SGST) is Rs 24,192 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is Rs 46,953 crore and Cess is Rs 8,476 crore," the ministry said in a statement.

The GST collection for February, 2019, is 13.12 per cent higher than Rs 85,962 crore mopped-up in February, 2018.

The government has settled Rs 19,470 crore to CGST and Rs 15,747 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by the Centre and state governments after regular settlement in February is Rs 37,095 crore for CGST and Rs 39,939 crore for SGST.

Tax experts attributed the reason for dip in GST mop-up figures for February to the reduction in tax rates on 23 goods and services, including movie tickets, TV, power banks and monitor screen, with effect from January 1.

The goods on which GST has been lowered to 18 per cent from 28 per cent include pulleys, transmission shafts and cranks, gear boxes, retreaded or used tyres, power banks of lithium-ion batteries, digital cameras, video camera recorders and video game consoles.

EY Tax Partner, Abhishek Jain said: "While the GST collections are in line with the average collection in this financial year, it has witnessed a slight dip vis-a-vis the previous month; a possible reason being the impact of rate rationalizations effective January".

The GST Council in its December 22, 2018, meeting rationalised the 28 per cent slab and restricted the highest slab to luxury, demerit, and sin goods, besides cement, large screen TV, Air Conditioners and dishwashers.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in the current fiscal till February totalled Rs 10.70 lakh crore.

The government has lowered the GST collection target for the current fiscal to Rs 11.47 lakh crore in the Revised Estimates, from Rs 13.71 lakh crore budgeted initially.

GST collection stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in April, Rs 94,016 crore in May, Rs 95,610 crore in June, Rs 96,483 crore in July, Rs 93,960 crore in August, Rs 94,442 crore in September, Rs 1,00,710 crore in October, Rs 97,637 crore in November, Rs 94,725 crore in December 2018 and Rs 1.02 lakh crore in January 2019.

For the next fiscal 2019-20, the GST collection target has been budgeted at Rs 13.71 lakh crore.

First Published:Mar 1, 2019 5:11 PM IST