The GST collection in February grew 12.5 per cent to over Rs 1.68 lakh crore, buoyed by domestic transactions, the finance ministry said. The total gross collection for the current fiscal till February stands at Rs 18.40 lakh crore, 11.7 per cent higher than last year.

The average monthly gross collection stood at Rs 1.67 lakh crore, exceeding Rs 1.5 lakh crore collected in the last fiscal.

Collection of central GST was Rs 31,785 crore, state GST, Rs 39,615 crore, and integrated GST, Rs 84,098 crore, including Rs 38,593 crore collected on imported goods.

The cess collection stands at Rs 12,839 crore, including Rs 984 crore on imported goods.

This growth was driven by a 13.9 per cent rise in GST from domestic transactions and an 8.5 per cent increase in GST from the import of goods.

M.S. Mani, partner, Deloitte India, said: “Coming on the back of the robust GDP numbers for the third quarter, the impressive GST collection figure is reflecting the broad-based consumption increase across sectors as GST is a consumption tax”.

“The impressive GST collections for February will provide comfort to the government that the tax collection targets for the year will be exceeded by a good margin.

“Almost all major states have shown an impressive increase in collections, ranging from 8 per cent to 21 per cent, demonstrating that the consumption growth is across states as GST is a destination-based consumption tax,” Mani said.

Gunjan Prabhakaran, partner & leader, indirect tax, BDO India, said, “This increase seems to be based on growth in economic activity.”