New Delhi, March 1 (PTI): GST collections in February dropped to INR 97,247 crore from INR 1.02 lakh crore in the previous month, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
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 INR 97,247 crore of which Central GST is INR 17,626 crore, State GST (SGST) is INR 24,192 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is INR 46,953 crore and Cess is INR 8,476 crore," the ministry said in a statement.
The GST collection for February, 2019, is 13.12 per cent higher than INR 85,962 crore mopped-up in February, 2018.
The government has settled INR 19,470 crore to CGST and INR 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 INR 37,095 crore for CGST and INR 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 INR 10.70 lakh crore.
The government has lowered the GST collection target for the current fiscal to INR 11.47 lakh crore in the Revised Estimates, from INR 13.71 lakh crore budgeted initially.
GST collection stood at INR 1.03 lakh crore in April, INR 94,016 crore in May, INR 95,610 crore in June, INR 96,483 crore in July, INR 93,960 crore in August, INR 94,442 crore in September, INR 1,00,710 crore in October, INR 97,637 crore in November, INR 94,725 crore in December 2018 and INR 1.02 lakh crore in January 2019.
For the next fiscal 2019-20, the GST collection target has been budgeted at INR 13.71 lakh crore.
