GST collection falls for second straight month to Rs 85,174 crore

Revenue collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) fell for the second consecutive month in February by Rs 1,144 crore to Rs 85,174 crore.

The collection had marginally slipped in January to Rs 86,318 crore from Rs 86,703 crore in December.

"The total revenue received under GST for February 2018 (received upto March 26) has been Rs 85,174 crore," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

It added that 59.51 lakh GST returns were filed for February till March 25.

"This is 69 percent of total taxpayers which are required to file monthly returns," it said.

Of the Rs 85,174 crore, Rs 14,945 crore has been collected as Central GST (CGST), Rs 20,456 crore as State GST (SGST), Rs 42,456 crore as Integrated GST (IGST) and Rs 7,317 crore compensation cess, the Finance Ministry said.

It added that Rs 12,140 crore was being transferred from IGST to CGST account and Rs 13,424 crores from IGST to SGST account by way of settlement of funds on account of cross utilisation of IGST credit.

"Thus, a total amount of Rs 25,564 crores is being transferred from IGST to CGST and SGST account by way of settlement," the Ministry said.

Before picking up in December to touch Rs 86,703 crore, the revenue collection had fallen for two consecutive months from over Rs 92,000 crore in September to Rs 83,346 crore in October and Rs 80,808 crore in November.

The GST collection for July was over Rs 95,000 crore while for August it was more than Rs 91,000 crore.

--IANS

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