Huge decline in GST collection, tax collection reduced by 20% in May; Is the country’s economy slowing down?

GST Collection May 2026: Different pictures have emerged regarding Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in the second month of the financial year 2026-27 i.e. May. The pace of GST collection appeared to be slowing down on a monthly basis, but growth was recorded on an annual basis. Gross GST collection in May 2026 stood at Rs 1.94 lakh crore (₹ 1,94,184 crore), which is 19.9 percent less than the record GST collection of Rs 2.43 lakh crore (₹ 2,42,702 crore) in April 2026. However, compared to May last year, there was an increase of 3.2 percent in the collection. GST collection in May 2025 was Rs 1.88 lakh crore.

According to government data, total GST collections increased by 3.2 per cent year-on-year due to improvement in supply of goods and services and continued expansion in collections from imports. Net GST revenue increased by 3.3 percent to Rs 1.67 lakh crore in May 2026, which was Rs 1.62 lakh crore in the same month a year ago. During May 2026, total GST refunds increased by 2.6 per cent to Rs 27,281 crore. At the same time, in the first two months (April-May) of the current financial year, the total refund increased by 10.9 percent to Rs 59,063 crore.

GST Revenue got big support from imports

It is clear from the figures of May that the main reason for the increase in GST collection is the income from imports. tax revenue Remained the same. Gross GST collection from imports increased by 19.1 percent to Rs 59,654 crore in May. In contrast, gross GST revenue from domestic transactions declined by 2.6 per cent to Rs 1.35 lakh crore. On a net basis, Customs GST collection increased by 19.7 per cent to Rs 49,403 crore, while net revenue from domestic sources declined by 2.3 per cent to Rs 1.18 lakh crore. This indicates that domestic consumption-based tax collections have moderated, while import-based tax collections remain strong.

What was the CGST and SGST collection in May?

According to the data, the total Central GST (CGST) collection from domestic transactions during the month of May stood at Rs 37,397 crore, State GST (SGST) collection at Rs 45,143 crore and Integrated GST (IGST) collection at Rs 51,990 crore. IGST collection from imports increased by 19.1 per cent to Rs 59,654 crore in the month of May, indicating expansion in industrial capacity.

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GST collection of Rs 4.37 lakh crore in FY27

During the first two months of the current financial year i.e. April-May 2026, gross GST collection increased by 6.2 percent to Rs 4.37 lakh crore. Net GST revenue during the same period increased by 5.5% to Rs 3.78 lakh crore. Domestic revenue registered a growth of only 1.3 per cent in the first two months and stood at Rs 3.19 lakh crore. On the other hand, import-based GST collection jumped by 22.3 percent to Rs 1.17 lakh crore. This shows that at the beginning of the financial year GST collection The contribution of imports was much higher.