Uttar Pradesh continues to lead among states and Union Territories in collection from taxes during the April-August period of the current fiscal, followed by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, data from the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) showed. The state also tops in terms of the highest number of GST assessees with over 22 lakh.

Uttar Pradesh collected over ₹2.06 lakh crore during the five-month period, which is around 12 per cent higher than the corresponding period of last fiscal. Meanwhile, Keralam, though last in absolute number among 10 states, recorded the highest growth at around 22 per cent. The study does not include another large state, Maharashtra, as five-month data for the said state is not available. However, in FY26, its collection from taxes in the five-month period was lower than Uttar Pradesh.

States’ tax revenue comprises seven components – Goods & Services Tax (SGST), Stamps & Registration, Land Revenue, Sales Tax, State Excise Duty, State Share of Union Taxes, and other taxes & duties. Among these, SGST has the maximum share. All the 10 states taken for this report have shown collection from GST increasing despite rate rationalisation and doing away with compensation. For example, according to data compiled by the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG), Uttar Pradesh earned over ₹73,000 crore through SGST during the April-July period of the current fiscal as against over ₹66,000 crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal.

In terms of capital expenditure, Gujarat was ahead of others with spending of over ₹29,600 crore in the first five months of the current fiscal as against around ₹26,000 crore during the corresponding period. At the same time, while Uttar Pradesh spent over ₹21,000 crore during the five-month period, like the corresponding period of last fiscal, the amount for Karnataka was over ₹15,600 crore as against around ₹14,000 crore.

All these data are being studied at a time when the Centre convened a two-day conference over the weekend with States and Union Territories (with legislatures) on “Financing India’s Journey towards Viksit Bharat.” During the conference, while Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur emphasised the need for higher private finance, the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N K Singh expanded the deliberation by suggesting measures for revenue augmentation by States besides issues such as debt-GDP ratio and going from public finance to private capital, among others.

According to Thakur, keeping in mind ongoing global difficulties and because of the scale of transformation, “we envisage towards ourselves to reach our shared goal. It needs to be borne in mind that this scale cannot be met solely by government budgets, and that private sector financing will need to play a critical role.”

Suggesting ways for how States can boost revenue, Singh said that they are better placed to leverage their local information advantage. The opportunity, therefore, is to turn this information advantage into stronger revenue mobilisation. “Three areas stand out. The State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) has a valuable taxpayer database. Combined with modern analytics, it can strengthen the assessment base for property tax, State excise, mineral royalties, and motor vehicle tax. Calibrating circle rates using registered sale data at the micro level. Rationalising user charges based on a stated formula can have positive multiplier effects,” he said.

Published on September 20, 2026