New Delhi, Apr 1 (KNN) The Goods and Services (GST) collection in the month of March has set a new record as the collection stood at Rs 1,23,902 crore, highest since the introduction of GST.

Of Rs 1,23,902 crore CGST is Rs 22,973 crore, SGST is Rs 29,329 crore, IGST is Rs 62,842 crore (including Rs 31,097 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 8,757 crore (including Rs 935 crore collected on import of goods).

According to a statement from the Finance Ministry, on Thursday, the government has settled Rs 21,879 crore to CGST and Rs 17,230 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. In addition, Centre has also settled Rs 28,000 crore as IGST ad-hoc settlement in the ratio of 50:50 between Centre and States/UTs.

''The total revenue of Centre and the States after regular and ad-hoc settlements in the month of March’ 2021 is Rs 58,852 crore for CGST and Rs 60,559 crore for the SGST. Centre has also released a compensation of Rs 30,000 crore during the month of March 2021,'' the statement said.

The GST revenues during March 2021 are the highest since the introduction of GST. In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over the past five months, the revenues for the month of March 2021 are 27 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year, it said.

During the month, revenues from import of goods was 70 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 17 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. The GST revenue witnessed growth rate of (-) 41%, (-) 8%, 8% and 14% in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of this financial year, respectively, as compared to the same period last year, clearly indicating the trend in recovery of GST revenues as well as the economy as a whole.

GST revenues crossed above Rs 1 lakh crore mark at a stretch for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic. Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, Income-tax and Customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over the last few months.