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Informist, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

 

--Govt Apr-Nov gross tax revenue INR 23.364 tln vs INR 22.610 tln year ago 

--Govt: Apr-Nov state tax devolution INR 9.366 tln vs INR 8.121 tln year ago 

--Govt Nov gross tax revenue INR 2.220 tln vs INR 2.283 tln year ago

 

NEW DELHI – The government's gross tax collections in Apr-Nov rose just 3.3% year-on-year to INR 23.364 trillion, with income tax continuing to be the top contributor to the Centre's coffers, data released Wednesday by the Controller General of Accounts showed. The consistently robust growth in tax collections, especially in direct taxes, seen over the past two years, is fading. The data showed that despite corporation tax soaring 61.2% on year in November, total tax collected during the month was down 2.8%.

 

Month-on-month, the gross tax collections were down 10.8%. 

 

The income tax collection rose 6.8% on year in Apr-Nov to INR 7.483 trillion, with November's collection at INR 786.68 billion. Month-on-month, the income tax collection in November was almost flat.

 

The corporation tax collection in November was robust at INR 383.31 billion, bringing the total collection in the first eight months of the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) to INR 5.515 trillion, up 7.8% on year. Month-on-month, the corporation tax collection fell 17.6%.

 

The Budget has projected total tax collections in FY26 at INR 42.702 trillion, up 10.8% from the revised estimate for last year. Data for FY25 showed the government had missed the revised aim by INR 582 billion. This means that for the government to meet its target this year, collections will have to grow 12.5%.

 

The growth in tax collections during the first eight months of FY26, albeit muted, was aided by a 5.4% rise in central goods and services tax collections to INR 6.365 trillion. In November, central GST collections grew just 0.7% on year to INR 828.66 billion. November was the second full month after the GST rate changes announced in September played out. On a month-on-month basis, CGST collections in November fell 4.6%.  

 

The GST Council had in September overhauled the indirect tax regime by collapsing the four-slab GST structure of 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% to a two-slab structure of 5% and 18%. The council also introduced a new GST rate of 40% on sin and luxury goods. All new rates, except for those on tobacco products, took effect from Sept. 22. The GST Council anchored the tax changes and the overall implication of the move based on FY24 consumption data, which is the last available full year bifurcated data on item-wise GST spent by consumers. 

 

As part of the rate changes, the GST Council also removed compensation cess on all products from Sept. 22 barring for and tobacco-related products. The cess was introduced to bring states on board to adopt the GST regime 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. These loans are expected to be repaid soon, meaning tobacco and related products will also strop attracting it. 

 

Because of this change, GST compensation cess collection dipped 15.3% on year during Apr-Nov to INR 844.04 billion. In November, it tumbled 70.3% to on year to INR 39.01 billion.

 

The government's net tax collections during the first eight months were down 3.4% at INR 13.939 trillion, with November's net tax falling 13.6% on year to INR 1.196 trillion. The fall in net taxes was due to a 15.3% rise in the Centre's devolution to states during the period. The government transferred INR 9.366 trillion to states in Apr-Nov. The total transfer to states so far translates to nearly 66% of the full year's aim of INR 14.224 trillion. The Budget has projected India's net tax collections for FY26 at INR 28.374 trillion.

 

On the indirect tax front, customs and excise duty showed divergent performance with the collection of the former falling and that of the latter rising in Apr-Nov. The Budget has projected India's central GST collections to grow 11.3% in FY26, customs and excise duty to grow 2.1% and 3.9%, respectively. Based on the actual data for FY25, to meet the government's projections, central GST, customs, and excise duty collections will need to grow 11.2%, 3.1%, and 5.8%, respectively. As per current data, customs duty collections are down 7.3% on year in Apr-Nov while excise duty collections are up 9.3% on year.

 

The details for the central government's tax collections for Apr-Nov and Nov are as follows (in billion INR):

	Apr-Nov 2025	Apr-Nov 2024	Year on year % change
Corporation Tax	5,514.68	5,116.36	7.8
Income Tax	7,482.99	7,007.75	6.8
Securities Transaction Tax	357.18	359.32	(-)0.6
Other Receipts	0.08	0.05	60.0
Central GST	6,364.73	6,038.73	5.4
Union territory GST	42.35	24.27	74.5
Integrated GST	-605.2	-278.54	117.3
GST compensation cess	844.04	995.98	(-)15.3
Customs	1,428.64	1,541.42	(-)7.3
Excise duty	1,912.97	1,751	9.3
Service Tax	-11.57	0.96	(-)1305.2
Other taxes	33.41	52.45	(-)36.3
Total	23,364.3	22,609.75	3.3

 

	Nov-25	Oct-25	Nov-24	Year-on-year % change
Corporation Tax	383.31	465.03	237.74	61.2
Income Tax	786.68	786.17	743.21	5.8
Securities Transaction Tax	47.83	46.26	52.45	(-)8.8
Other Receipts	0	0	0	0
Central GST	828.66	868.71	822.74	0.7
Union territory GST	16.97	5.22	4.8	253.5
Integrated GST	(-)307.14	(-)209.68	(-)174.06	--
GST compensation cess	39.01	73.31	131.16	(-)70.3
Customs	140.43	217.21	220.3	(-)36.3
Excise duty	280.91	242.88	239.1	17.5
Service Tax	(-)0.2	(-)8.68	0.09	--
Other taxes	3.94	3.93	5.88	(-)33.0
Total	2220.40	2490.36	2283.41	(-)2.8

 

End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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