Andhra Pradesh’s GST collections have fallen by 2.7% in April at a time when the entire country is recording GST growth. The state’s collections dropped from ₹4,686 crore to ₹4,323 crore in April, a fall of ₹363 crore in a single month. This is not a national trend, not an economic slowdown. Every single neighbouring and comparable state recorded growth, while Andhra Pradesh alone declines.
The state-wise GST collection:
While Karnataka grew by 14.5%, Telangana by 12.6%, Kerala by 12.4%, and Tamil Nadu by 4.3%, Andhra Pradesh, under the Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government, recorded a negative 2.7% growth. Nationally, April GST collections grew by 4.3%. Andhra Pradesh is the only major southern state moving in the opposite direction.
The Trajectory of Decline
This is not a one-month aberration; this marks the beginning of the third consecutive year of decline in Andhra Pradesh’s GST collections — a sustained and worsening trend that has coincided precisely with the TDP-led coalition coming to power. In the previous financial year (2025-26), the state’s GST revenue had already declined, dropping from ₹44,825 crore to ₹42,397 crore, a fall of 5.41%. The current April figures suggest the decline is accelerating rather than reversing.
What the State Government Is Doing to Hide the Numbers
Rather than addressing the revenue collapse, the state government is attempting to artificially inflate the appearance of GST income through accounting manoeuvres.
The article specifically points out that the state is counting petroleum and liquor tax collections which are outside the GST framework, alongside GST figures to project inflated revenue numbers. The state’s commercial tax department branch revenue grew by 12.08% in April but this growth is driven by petroleum and liquor taxes, not actual GST collections.
The actual GST figure stands at ₹4,946 crore but the true comparable number, stripped of these non-GST additions, is ₹5,543 crore when properly accounted. The government is using artificial technology and accounting methods to show income as rising when GST collections are actually falling.
The Political Accountability
Since the coalition government came to power, GST collections have been on a consistent downward trajectory. The central finance department has formally noted this decline. The state’s own commercial tax data confirms it.
The Chief Minister who travels to Singapore on ₹95 lakh trips, spends ₹109 crore on luxury travel, allocates ₹300 crore for a Yoga Day event, and borrows ₹4,400 crore every Tuesday, is presiding over an economy where the most basic indicator of economic health, GST collection, is moving in the wrong direction.
Karnataka, with 14.5% growth, is not lucky. Telangana, with 12.6% growth, is not fortunate. They are governed by administrations that are generating real economic activity that shows up in GST numbers. While Andhra Pradesh under TDP is generating press releases. The GST numbers tell a different story.
Conclusion
A 2.7% decline in GST collections when the national average is 4.3% growth and every neighbouring state is recording double-digit increases is not a statistical blip. It is a verdict on the economic management of the state.
The Chandrababu government has spent 23 months announcing investments, laying foundation stones, signing MoUs, and claiming credit for its predecessor’s work. The GST numbers — cold, unspun, collected at thousands of transaction points across the state every day reveal what is actually happening beneath the surface of the announcements.
Andhra Pradesh’s economy, on the watch of its self-proclaimed visionary Chief Minister, is contracting in the one metric that cannot be faked.
