Odisha records 11 per cent growth in GST collection during Apr-Feb

Odisha has registered an 11 per cent growth in goods and services tax (GST) collection to Rs 27,044.37 crore during April to February period of the current fiscal, a statement said.

The GST collection during the same period of the previous financial year was Rs 24,325.79 crore.

The gross GST collection (CGST, IGST, SGST and cess) in the April-February period of the 2019-20 fiscal shows a growth of 11.18 per cent with the collection of Rs 27,044.37 crore, it said.

The collection of state goods and services tax (SGST) in February was Rs 804.85 crore, which was the second highest monthly collection during the current financial year.

The gross GST collection during the last month was Rs 2,790 crore.

Integrated GST and cess, which were showing a negative trend during the previous months due to slowdown in sales of coal and steel products, have registered positive growth of 9.29 per cent and 27.65 per cent respectively in February as compared to the year-ago month, the statement said.

The VAT collection from petroleum products and liquor in February was Rs 695.81 crore, which was the highest monthly collection during the current fiscal, it said.

As many as 45,639 new taxpayers have been brought in the tax fold during the current fiscal which is encouraging, GST commissioner S K Lohani said.

He also said the field units have been instructed to undertake a special drive against those who have either not filed returns, or submitted faulty documents.

To further streamline the tax administration in the GST regime, instructions have been issued to cancel the registrations of fake dealers after field enquiry, according to the statement.

During the current fiscal, registrations of 12,300 such taxpayers, assigned to the state, have been cancelled on the ground of non-existence of business at the declared place, not filing regular returns for more than 6 months or conducting fraudulent transactions.

Till date, seven persons have been arrested for allegedly running fake dealer networks.