Notwithstanding a slowing in the mop-up from imported products, India's GST receipts increased 12. 4% to £14.95 billion in February.
According to finance ministry data, February (collections for transactions in January) marked the 12th straight month of the kitty being above £14 billion. “Normally, February being a 28-day month witnesses a relatively lower collection of revenue,” the ministry said in a statement.
The figures also revealed that last month's cess revenues reached a record high of £1.19 billion. The cess on luxury and sinful items including vehicles, tobacco, soft drinks, yachts, aircraft, and coal has only reached £1.1 billion twice since the introduction of the GST in July 2017.
Disaggregated data for February showed that both state and central GST collections rose by 13% each, while integrated GST collections, including on imports, were 11% higher.
Among the states, Meghalaya was the lone one which saw a fall in collections with Himachal, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha and Assam reporting growth rates which were below the national average.