CHENNAI: The state retained 17% more in Goods and Services Tax (GST) in September 2026 than a year before, even as gross collections in the state fell in five of the first six months of this financial year, an official note from the commercial taxes department said.
Gross collections, which include the state and central levies and IGST, fell about 5% in September to Rs 10,188 crore. But the amount the state kept after the Centre settled inter-state taxes rose to Rs 7,320 crore from Rs 6,270 crore a year earlier. For April to September, the figure was Rs 44,266 crore, up 16% from Rs 38,119 crore.
The gap, the note argues, reflects the design of the tax. GST is levied on consumption, so revenue ultimately accrues to the state where goods and services are consumed, not where they are produced or where a transaction starts. “The figures that matter for Tamil Nadu’s fiscal health,” the department says, are the post-settlement receipts: what the state keeps once IGST has been apportioned.
The department describes the 16% cumulative growth as the highest in recent years and it reflects robust consumer activity.