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Informist, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025

 

--India Nov total GST collections at INR 1.703 tln 

--India Nov total GST collections INR 1.703 tln, up 0.7% on year 

--India Nov Central GST collections INR 348.43 bln 

--India Nov State GST collections INR 425.22 bln 

--India Nov Integrated GST collections INR 929.10 bln 

 

NEW DELHI – India's goods and services tax collections in November fell on a year-on-year basis for the first time in over six years, government data released Monday showed. This comes after the GST Council in September lowered taxes on several goods and reduced the tax slabs to two – 5% and 18% – from four earlier. 

 

The government collected INR 1.750 trillion in November, down 4.0% on year, Informist's calculation of government data showed. The last time GST collections fell on year was in August 2020. Excluding cess collections, GST revenue rose 0.7% on year to INR 1.703 trillion in November, data showed. The government collected INR 47.56 billion as cess in November, lower than INR 132.53 billion a year ago. 

 

"Compensation cess is continuing only as a transitory arrangement till entire loan and interest liability are discharged," the government said in the release.

 

GST compensation cess, levied on certain luxury items and sin good such as tobacco items, was introduced to compensate states for the loss of revenue when the GST regime was adopted in 2017. Initially set to expire in June 2022, the cess was extended until March 2026 to repay INR 2.69 trillion in loans taken by the Centre to partly bridge the revenue shortfall of states during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

On Sept. 3, the GST Council overhauled the indirect tax structure by slashing rates on a host of common and daily-use items. The council also introduced a new GST rate of 40% on luxury goods to subsume the GST compensation cess that some of the items in the 28% GST bracket attracted. However, the council decided to continue with the compensation cess on tobacco-related products till the GST-related loans were repaid. The government had said that the overall tax incidence on such sin items would not be allowed to come down in post-compensation cess era. 

 

On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced The Health Security Se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, and The Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to impose an additional levy on tobacco products including cigarettes, pan masala and gutkha. The additional levy on these items will replace the compensation cess under the goods and services tax regime.

GST collections in November, including cess, were down 10.7% from October, when the government had collected INR 1.959 trillion. Cumulatively, GST collections including cess for the first eight months of 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) grew 7.4% on year to INR 15.644 trillion. This was lower than the 10.9% growth projected in the Budget for the current fiscal year. Excluding cess collection, GST collections were up 8.9% in Apr-Nov at INR 14.755 trillion.

 

The changes to the GST regime are expected to have a net revenue impact of around INR 480 billion annually. The GST Council segmented the two broad GST slabs on the tenets of 'merit' and 'standard', putting a majority of common-use items in the 5% slab, thereby bringing down the effective average GST rate. A host of white goods, especially consumer durables like washing machines and big televisions, were moved to the 18% slab from 28%, lowering the average GST rate.

 

Central GST collection in November was INR 348.43 billion, higher than INR 341.41 billion a year ago. State GST collection was INR 425.22 billion last month, lower than INR 430.47 billion collected in November 2024. Integrated GST mop-up was INR 929.10 billion, up from INR 918.28 billion a year ago.

 

The post-settlement revenue of states was flat on year at INR 868.82 billion in November. GST revenue, excluding cess and net of refunds, was INR 1.521 trillion in November, up 1.3% on year. Refunds, excluding for cess, during the month fell 4.0% on year to INR 181.96 billion.  End

 

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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