Bhubaneswar, May 2 (IANS): Odisha has maintained the highest growth rate of gross GST amongst the major states with a collection of Rs 4,910.23 crore during April 2022 as against Rs 3,849.48 crore collected during the same moth of 2021, registering a growth of 28 per cent, officials said on Monday.

The gross GST collection during the last month is also the highest in a month since inception of GST, claimed the state GST officials.

Similarly, the state has also recorded the highest ever OGST (Odisha GST) collection of Rs 1,714.78 crore during April 2022 against Rs 1,126.67 crore collected during April 2021 with a growth of 52.20 per cent. This growth rate has surpassed the previous highest record in the month of March 2022 by a big margin of Rs 363.53 crore.

There is a collection of Rs 1,381 crore in CGST with growth of 45 per cent and Rs 722.40 crore in cess with growth of 18 per cent during the last month. However, the IGST monthly settlement has shown a negative growth of 89 per cent owing to substantial increase in inter-state sales during the month, the officials said.

The total collection of VAT (petrol & liquor) is Rs 232.88 crore during April 22 as against Rs 224.25 crore collected during April '21, thereby registering a marginal growth rate of 3.85 per cent.

The state has also witnessed a growth of 19.43 per cent in professional tax with a collection of Rs 27.17 crore in the last month against the collection of Rs 22.75 crore during April last year.

The high growth in gross GST has been led by mining and manufacturing sectors. There is a growth of 179 per cent in the mining sector, 270 per cent in the manufacturing sector and 105 per cent in the trading sector during the last month.

In addition, regular surveillance and intelligence-based action against the tax evaders have contributed significantly in improving compliance by the taxpayers, they added.