March GST collections stand at Rs 97,597 crore

Goods and services tax collections for March stood at Rs 97,597 crore, falling way short of Rs 1.15 lakh crore target set by the government. Rs 1.05 lakh crore was collected in the month of February. The total number of GSTR-3B Returns filed for the month of February up to 31 March, 2020 is 7.65 million.

Of the total Rs 97,597 crore revenue, the central GST stood at Rs 19,183 crore, state GST at Rs 25,601 crore and integrated GST at Rs 44,508 crore, which included Rs 18,056 crore collected on imports, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

February was the fourth consecutive month when collections crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. Central GST mop-up for March stood at Rs 19,183 core as against Rs 20,569 crore in February.

The revenue department had in January reset the target for GST collections to Rs 1.15 lakh crore for February and Rs 1.25 lakh crore March. The targets were earlier Rs 1.1 lakh crore for each month.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has been on a war footing to augment collections by reducing input tax credit (ITC) fraud. Field formations of GST authorities have been asked to focus on identifying fraudulent ITC claims while weeding out miscreants that may use fake invoices or inflated or fake e-way bills