In a positive development for the Indian economy, goods and services (GST) collections have surged to a record high in January, rising to Rs 1.19 lakh crore, reports Economic Times.

The January collections add to the momentum whereby the collections over the past four months have consistently been above Rs one lakh crore mark.

Further, the average year-on-year growth in GST collections during the first four months of the ongoing second half of FY21 has been eight per cent, compared to a fall of 24 per cent during the first half of the year which was battered by stringent nationwide lockdown and several other restrictions.

Also, January's collections are also eight per cent higher over the same month last year when the collections stood at Rs 1.1 lakh crore. Also, in total, about 90 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed for the month of December as of 31 January.

In total, as of 6 pm yesterday, the exact collections stood at Rs 1,19,847 crore. Of this, the central GST was Rs 21,923 crore, state GST was Rs 29,014 crore and integrated GST was Rs 60,288 crore. The integrated GST includes Rs 27,242 crore collected on imported goods.

Also, the cess collected stands at Rs 8,622 crore of which Rs 833 crore was collected on imports.