GST collection slips to Rs 97,500 crore in March; Maharashtra collects highest

Weighed down by the coronavirus outbreak, the Goods and services tax collections for March slipped to Rs 97,500 crore after four consecutive months of collection of over Rs 1 lakh crore.

State-wise, Karnataka recorded the second-highest GST collection of Rs 83,400 crore but was far behind Maharashtra, which collected over Rs 1.85 lakh crore.

The revenue department had set a target of Rs 1.25 lakh crore of GST collection. In February the GST collection stood at Rs 1.05 lakh crore.

The finance ministry said it has settled Rs 19,718 crore to Central GST and Rs 14,915 crore to State GST claims.

The GST revenues during the month of March from domestic transactions have shown a decline of 4 per cent over the revenue during the month of March 2019.

Taking into account the GST collected from the import of goods, the total revenue during March 2020 has also decreased by 8 per cent in comparison to the revenue during March 2019.

During this month, the GST on import of goods has shown a negative growth of (-) 23 per cent as compared to March 2019, the ministry said.

But, for the full financial year, 2019-20, the GST for domestic transaction has shown a growth rate of 8 per cent over the revenues last year.