Press release by former Finance Minister, Sri Buggana Rajendranath

The Eenadu daily published an article titled ‘anchanalaku minchi GST vasullu’. The contents of this article demonstrate the extent to which the newspaper can stoop to misrepresent a depressing result to make it appear as a stupendous success. 
The article conveys that the budgeted GST revenues for FY 2025-26 were Rs. 27,477.15 crores and that, the GST revenues for the first four months of FY 2025-26 were Rs. 16,754 crores. The article apparently celebrates this extraordinary performance of the State Government that could demonstrate 61% accomplishment of target for the year insofar as GST revenues are concerned. However, the truth is far away from what was published. 
The CAG monthly key indicators conveys that the GST revenues for the first 4 months of this financial year are Rs. 16,754.91 crores. However, the CAG report also conveys that this figure includes receipts on account of CGST as part of State’s share in central taxes. This does not reflect the performance of the State.  If this figure is removed, the actual SGST (State GST) revenues received by the State Government during the first four months of this financial year is only Rs. 10,769.55 crores. 
Now let’s look at what was estimated as SGST revenues by the State Government for the whole of FY 2025-26, as presented in the budget documents. The amount projected by the State Government for the whole year under SGST is Rs. 40,718.12 crores.
Therefore, the % of accomplishment during the first 4 months is only 26.45% (Rs. 10,769.55 crores of Rs. 40,718.12 crores). Going by the budgeted figure, the SGST revenues for the first 4 months in FY 2025-26 should have been Rs. 13,571 crores, against this, the achievement is only Rs. 10,769.55 crores. Despite this disappointing result, the Eenadu shamelessly ties to boast. 
Further, the SGST revenues during the first four months of this financial year 2025-26 is Rs. 10,769.55 crores and the SGST revenues during the corresponding period of last financial year 2024-25 is Rs. 10,868.09 crores. Therefore, when we compare the year-on-year performance, the SGST revenues have grown by -0.91%. 
The CAG figures convey another important aspect, the sales tax revenues another important indicator of consumption in the State demonstrated a year-on-year growth of only 0.78%, during the first 4 months of FY 2025-26. 
Another aspect is that, the aggregate of the State’s own tax revenues and non-tax revenues estimated for FY 2025-26 as per budget documents is Rs. 1,27,702.77 crores and as per CAG report, what was achieved during the first 4 month of FY 2025-26 is only Rs. 29,511.03 crores, translating to an achievement of only 23.11%. Going by the budget figure, the actual State’s own revenue receipt during the first 4 months of FY 2024-25 should have been Rs. 42,563 crores, however, the receipt is only Rs. 29,511 crores.