Chandigarh, November 1, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Punjab has recorded a 28.29 per cent increase in State GST (SGST) cash collections in October 2026, significantly outperforming the national growth of around 14 per cent, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said on Sunday.
The state collected ₹1,030.29 crore in SGST cash during October, compared with ₹803.07 crore in the corresponding month last year, registering an additional revenue of ₹227.22 crore.
Cheema said Punjab had crossed the ₹1,000-crore mark in monthly SGST cash collections for the second time this year, following a collection of approximately ₹1,182 crore in April. He described October’s achievement as the first time since the introduction of GST in 2017 that the state had crossed this threshold in the month.
Punjab’s gross GST collection also registered 14 per cent growth, rising to ₹2,716.60 crore in October from ₹2,393.22 crore a year ago. The increase amounted to ₹323.38 crore.
For April-October, the state’s cumulative gross GST collections stood at ₹18,047.68 crore, against ₹15,505.66 crore in the corresponding period last year, marking growth of 16.39 per cent and an additional collection of ₹2,542.02 crore. Cheema said this was higher than the national cumulative growth of around 15 per cent.
Collections under VAT and CST also recorded a 23.76 per cent rise, reaching ₹763.49 crore in October compared with ₹616.93 crore a year earlier.
The minister attributed the growth to improved compliance monitoring, technology-based scrutiny and stronger revenue administration. He said the Excise and Taxation Department imposed penalties worth ₹111.12 crore during October for violations involving tax evasion, irregular transportation, fake billing and other GST-related offences.
Referring to the Balaji Transport Company fraud case in Ludhiana, Cheema said the department had recovered ₹20 crore in tax. The investigation had earlier uncovered a suspected multi-state network involving around 62 interconnected firms and alleged tax evasion exceeding ₹400 crore.
Further scrutiny of e-way bill transactions and verification reportedly led to the identification of four additional transporters allegedly linked to the network. They have also been booked as the investigation expands.
Cheema said the government would continue action against organised tax evasion while seeking to provide a transparent and business-friendly environment for compliant taxpayers.
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