Tamil Nadu Minister PT Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Saturday said the present GST measurement system was “deeply flawed” and could be corrected in 20 different steps without the necessity for new laws.
The Minister of Information, Technology and Digital Services at an event in Chennai said that if the federal government has to say something “profound”, it has to say it about something.
“We get these kinds of declarations from Delhi every quarter, we have record amounts of GST collected. And every quarter I asked, so what? If GDP increases from year to year, the total volume of transactions (GST) increases from year to year, so GST amounts increase from year to year. It’s just math and it’s influenced by inflation and GDP growth,” he said.
Thiaga Rajan made these comments during the NIT Trichy Global Alumni Meet 2025 in Chennai.
“If you (central government) want to say something profound, say as a percentage of GDP, GST revenues have increased. As a relative growth ratio, this number is higher. Compared to the last two quarters, the relative ratio is better. Something has to be relative. You’re just talking absolute (numbers). I say this because I repeat at every opportunity that I am no longer a member of the council. GST can be easily corrected through 20 different steps without the need for new laws or constitutional amendments.” – he said.
In December 2024, gross GST collections increased by 7.3% year-on-year to Rs 1.77 lakh crore (as in comparison with Rs 1.65 lakh crore in December 2023) despite a major increase in domestic and export refunds.
According to government data released on January 1, central GST collection was Rs 32,836 crore, state GST was Rs 40,499 crore, integrated GST (IGST) was Rs 47,783 crore and Cess was Rs 11,471 crore.
