NEW DELHI: GST collections rose 8.3% in February to Rs 1.05 lakh crore compared to the same month last year, the fourth straight month of over Rs 1 lakh crore mop-up, although it was marginally lower than the over Rs 1.1 lakh crore garnered in January 2020.Compliance, however, improved further with the number of returns filed jumping 13.6% to a record 83.5 lakh by the deadline of February 20, latest data released by the finance ministry on Sunday showed. The collections and returns filed in February are for sales in January.While collections from the domestic front went up 12%, the import slowdown saw a 3% decline in Integrated GST, the biggest of the three components of the indirect tax. Central GST increased nearly 17% to Rs 20,569 crore, while state GST was up 13% at Rs 27,348 crore.The government was hoping to collect Rs 4.55 lakh crore during the last four months of the fiscal year but has managed to rake in under Rs 3.2 lakh crore. It hopes for an improvement in the mop-up, given that notices have been sent out to entities for multiple violations observed through data analytics. Data released by the government also showed that North East states were doing well, with Manipur topping the list with its collection jumping 77% in February.