India's gross collections of goods and services tax rose 22.9% in October from a year earlier to 2,31,290 crore rupees (2.31 lakh crore, or about 2.31 trillion rupees; one lakh crore equals 1 trillion), with tax collected on imports climbing 42.2%, according to provisional figures released by the GST Network on Nov. 1. A year earlier the total was 1,88,125 crore rupees.

For investors tracking India's public finances and consumer economy, the numbers carry two messages. Domestic receipts, the better gauge of spending at home, grew a solid 15.8% in the month that covered much of the festive shopping season. And the outsized jump in import-linked tax points to a surge in goods arriving at India's ports, which matters for the trade deficit and the rupee as much as for the Treasury.

Imports drive India's GST surge

Integrated GST on imports, which customs collects at the border, reached 72,246 crore rupees in October, up from 50,796 crore rupees a year earlier, according to the data tables published by TaxGuru from the official release. That single line supplied roughly half of the 43,165 crore rupee increase in gross collections. Measured against domestic revenue, import tax has grown nearly three times as fast this month, a gap that has persisted through most of the fiscal year.

Domestic revenue rose to 1,59,044 crore rupees from 1,37,328 crore rupees. Within that, central GST came to 42,935 crore rupees, state GST to 51,340 crore rupees and domestic integrated GST to 64,769 crore rupees.

Refunds grew far more slowly than collections. They totaled 27,934 crore rupees, up 6.5%, with domestic refunds up 9.8% to 14,007 crore rupees and export refunds processed through the customs ICEGATE system up 3.4% to 13,927 crore rupees, according to the release. That left net GST revenue at 2,03,356 crore rupees, a 25.6% increase. Net receipts from customs-linked GST rose 56.2% to 58,319 crore rupees, while net domestic revenue rose 16.4% to 1,45,037 crore rupees.

The comparison base is soft. In October 2025, shortly after India cut GST rates on a wide range of goods, gross collections grew 4.6% and net revenue rose just 0.6%, the slowest pace of that fiscal year, India Seatrade News reported at the time. Those figures were on the basis used then; the new release puts the year-earlier gross total at 1,88,125 crore rupees. Business Today, in its report on the new data, credited the October gain to momentum in both domestic and import-driven collections.

Seven-month GST totals run ahead

For the first seven months of the fiscal year that began in April, gross GST collections reached 14,77,569 crore rupees, up 13.2% from 13,05,213 crore rupees in the same period a year earlier. Net revenue rose 12.6% to 12,69,486 crore rupees.

The split again tilts toward imports. Gross import revenue for April through October rose 29.3% to 4,44,158 crore rupees, while gross domestic revenue grew 7.4% to 10,33,411 crore rupees. Refunds over the period increased 16.9% to 2,08,083 crore rupees, led by a 19.7% rise in domestic refunds.

The release noted that the figures are provisional and may change slightly on finalization.

Stronger tax receipts give New Delhi some room on its budget. The government's fiscal deficit reached 42.1% of the full-year target in the first half, as a fuel tax cut bit. GST is shared between the center and the states, so the gains are split across both.

HSBC India PMI shows factories cooling

A separate survey released on Nov. 2 showed India's factory sector still expanding, but more slowly. The HSBC India Manufacturing PMI, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 54.7 in October from 55.1 in September, according to Trading Economics. The reading was below the flash estimate of 54.9 published in late October. Any figure above 50 signals growth.

Growth in new orders eased from September's seven-month high and output growth softened. Export orders rose at the fastest pace in six months. Manufacturers kept adding staff and building inventories, but business confidence slipped below its long-run average.

Price pressure faded. Input cost inflation eased to its lowest level since February, and the rate at which factories raised selling prices was the weakest in nearly four years, the survey showed.

The PMI fits with other recent data. Output of India's eight core industries rose 7.9% in September, the fastest pace in the revised series, led by electricity, coal and iron ore.

Next up are HSBC's final services PMI for October and October consumer price inflation, followed by November GST data at the start of December.