Reaffirming Punjab’s strong fiscal performance, Finance, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema announced on Monday that the state recorded a robust 14.59 per cent growth in Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections during May 2026.
File Photo: IANS
Reaffirming Punjab’s strong fiscal performance, Finance, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema announced on Monday that the state recorded a robust 14.59 per cent growth in Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections during May 2026.
Cheema said, “The gross GST collection for the month reached ₹2,400.52 crore, marking a significant increase of ₹305.71 crore compared to the ₹2,094.81 crore collected in May 2025.”
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He emphasised that this impressive surge reflects sustained economic activity, improved tax compliance and effective implementation of enforcement measures by the Excise and Taxation Department.
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In a press communiqué issued here, the Finance Minister highlighted that Punjab’s GST performance compares exceptionally well with national trends, significantly outperforming the country’s gross GST revenue growth of approximately 3.2 per cent over the corresponding month of the previous year. “While Punjab’s cash collection growth stood at 6.57 per cent, the state’s gross GST collection growth reached a much higher 14.59 per cent, illustrating a strengthening revenue base, enhanced compliance levels, and highly effective tax administration,” he said.
Turning to enforcement achievements, Cheema said, “The State Intelligence and Preventive Units (SIPUs) across Punjab delivered notable results by imposing penalties amounting to ₹182.69 crore and recovering ₹178.76 crore during May 2026 alone.”
He added that these substantial recoveries were driven by extensive data analytics, intelligence-based investigations, targeted verification exercises, and well-coordinated field operations conducted across the state.
Revealing a major breakthrough against tax evasion, Finance Minister Cheema said, “The Punjab Taxation Department successfully busted an ₹85.4 crore fake billing racket during May 2026 and arrested the director of a Ludhiana-based firm for allegedly availing fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) amounting to ₹15.56 crore through bogus transactions.”
He said investigations by SIPU exposed the use of non-existent firms, fake invoices, fraudulent debit notes, and fabricated transportation records to facilitate tax fraud. This led to the director’s arrest under the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act and the subsequent recovery of approximately ₹3 crore from beneficiaries linked to the fraud.
Concluding his statement, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema reiterated that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab Government remains firmly committed to safeguarding public revenue and ensuring a level playing field for honest taxpayers by leveraging advanced data analytics, e-way bill scrutiny, FASTag verification, and intelligence inputs.
The Finance Minister re-emphasised the Government’s strict zero-tolerance policy towards fake billing and organised tax evasion networks, pledging that the Excise and Taxation Department will continue to protect the interests of genuine taxpayers through a balanced approach of facilitation, rigorous monitoring, and uncompromising enforcement.
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