Goods and Services Tax revenue collections inched higher to Rs 96,483 crore in July this year from Rs 95,610 crore in the previous month, Finance Ministry said in a statement. The compliance rate also improved with 66 lakh assessees filing their summary sales GSTR-3B return in July (for June) as against 64.69 lakh returns filed a month ago.

Though the GST collections are improving, the July collections remained 3.5 per cent below the desired monthly average mark of Rs 1 lakh crore, though the Finance Ministry said the collections are “broadly on expected lines”. In April this year, the GST collections were over Rs 1.03 lakh crore, while the average for July 2017-March 2018 was Rs 89,885 crore.

In the Budget for 2018-19, GST collections, including compensation cess, have been pegged at Rs 7.44 lakh crore.