Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the GST collection for the month of April has been a landmark one. He said it is a landmark achievement and a confirmation of increased economic activity.

The government mopped up Rs 1.03 lakh crore in GST collection in April, indicating stabilisation of the new indirect tax regime which was rolled out on July 1 last year.

"The total gross GST revenue collected in April 2018 is Rs 1,03,458 crore of which CGST is Rs 18,652 crore, SGST is Rs 25,704 crore, IGST is Rs 50,548 crore (including Rs 21,246 crore collected on imports) and Cess is Rs 8,554 crore - including Rs 702 crore collected on imports, Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The buoyancy in the tax revenue of GST reflects the upswing in the economy and better compliance, it said.

GST collections in April exceeding Rs. 1 lakh crore is a landmark achievement and a confirmation of increased economic activity as brought out by other reports — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) May 1, 2018

However, it is usually noticed that in the last month of financial year, people also try to pay arrears of some of the previous months also and, therefore, April 2018 revenue cannot be taken as trend for the future, it added.

With the improved economic climate, introduction of e-way bill and improved GST compliance, GST collections would continue to show a positive trend — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) May 1, 2018

The total revenue earned by Central Government and State Governments after settlement in April, 2018 is Rs 32,493 crore for Central GST and Rs 40,257 crore for State GST, it said.

Increased tax collections will help the nation to expand its economic horizons and take it to loftier heights. — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) May 1, 2018

As far as total number of GSTR 3B returns for March up to April 30 was concerned, nearly 69.5 per cent filed returns.As many as 60.47 lakh as against 87.12 lakh, who are eligible to file returns for March, did the needful, it said.

April was also the month for filing of quarterly returns for composition dealers, it said.Out of 19.31 lakh composition dealers, 11.47 lakh have filed their quarterly return (GSTR 4) and have paid total tax of Rs 579 crore, which is included in Rs 1.03 lakh crore of total GST collection, it added.