The Goods and Services Tax collection in February rose 7 per cent to Rs 1.13 lakh crore, though it was lower than the record collections of last month, data showed. The collection in the previous month was Rs 1.19 lakh crore.

Collections crossed Rs 1 lakh crore for the fifth month in a row in February, which the finance ministry said was an indication of economic recovery.

The gross GST revenue collected in February 2021 is Rs 1,13,143 crore, of which CGST is Rs 21,092 crore, SGST is Rs 27,273 crore, IGST is Rs 55,253 crore (including Rs 24,382 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 9,525 crore (including Rs 660 crore collected on import of goods).

“In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of February 2021 are 7 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year.

“During the month, revenues from import of goods were 15 per cent higher and the revenues from the domestic transaction (including import of services) were 5 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year,” the ministry said in a statement.

M.S. Mani, senior director, Deloitte India, said: “In addition to the stabilisation of economic activities, the continuing trend of high GST collections for the past few months is also on account of the data analytics approach adopted by the authorities, which has led to significant detection of evasion and incorrect ITC (input tax credit) availment. With the gradual opening up of the services sectors, economic activity is expected to pick up.”