Bhubaneswar, April 2 : The gross GST collection in Odisha has recorded a 49 per cent growth during the financial year 2021-22 against the collection made during the previous financial year (2020-21), officials said here on Saturday. According to the data shared by the office of the State GST Commissioner, the gross GST collection for the financial year 2021-22 was Rs 44,334.67 crore, whereas Rs 29,852.76 crore GST was collected during the previous financial year. The gross GST collection of Odisha in the month of March 2022 was Rs 4,124.66 crore as against Rs 3,285.29 crore collected during March 2021, thereby registering a growth of 26 per cent. This is the highest growth rate amongst all the major states in the country, claimed the officials. Similarly, the collection of OGST (State GST) during the last month was Rs 1,351.25 crore against the collection of Rs 954.62 crore during March 2021 with a growth rate of 42 per cent. The OGST collection for the entire financial year 2021-22 was Rs 12,743.01 crore whereas the state had collected Rs 8,292.15 crore OGST during the previous fiscal. With this, the OGST collection during the last fiscal recorded a growth rate of 54 per cent. There is a collection of Rs 1,109.85 crore in CGST, Rs 1,003.47 crore in IGST and Rs 660.09 crore in cess in the month of March this year. The officials informed that the growth in GST is mostly driven by mining and manufacturing sectors. Among the top 100 taxpayers, while the mining sector witnessed a growth of 81 per cent, the manufacturing sector recorded 84 per cent growth during the financial year (2021-22). Similarly, the service sector, trading and work contract sector have witnessed growth of 56.78 per cent, 52.07 per cent and 36.99 per cent in the last fiscal over the corresponding period of its previous year. The total collection from VAT for the entire year 2021-22 was Rs 9,954.91 crore, which included Rs 2,093.70 crore from liquor. The professional tax collection also witnessed a decent growth of 8.48 per cent with collection of Rs 248.55 crore during the year. During the year 2021-22, six accused persons have been arrested involved in availing & passing on of bogus ITC of total amounting of Rs 462.49 crore. Further, 231 business premises have been raided resulting in detection of fraud and collection of tax and penalty to the tune of Rs 35.74 crore on spot. Moreover, the tax and penalty collection through mobile activities and transport godown checking was Rs 23.63 crore during the fiscal. /IANS