GST refund pendency declines sharply over two years, Govt tells Parliament

New Delhi: The pendency of GST refund claims has come down significantly over the past two years as of March 31, 2026, Parliament was informed on Monday.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said 64 claims involving a refund amount of about Rs 164 crore were pending for more than 60 days but up to 90 days as of March 31, 2026.

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This is significantly lower than 907 claims involving a refund amount of Rs 274 crore at the end of FY24; and 374 claims involving a refund amount of Rs 246 crore as of FY25.

With regard to GST refunds, which are pending for more than 90 days, the number of claims has come down to 110 involving a claim of Rs 64 crore as of March 31, 2026.

This corresponds to 1,592 claims involving a refund of Rs 696 crore as of FY24 and 712 claims worth Rs 560 crore as of FY25.

Chaudhary said the delay in processing of refund claims is mainly on account of delayed submission of documents and delayed submission of replies by the taxpayers in response to the notices issued to them, and requests made by the taxpayers for keeping the refund claim pending for seeking time for submission of additional documents and details against show cause notices, if any, issued in respect of their refund claims, and in a limited number of cases system-related issue.

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He further said refunds on account of export of goods made on payment of IGST are processed in a fully automated electronic mode through the Customs system without manual intervention through integration of the GST portal with the ICEGATE system of CBIC.

Besides, provisional refund of 90 per cent of the claim is being sanctioned on the basis of data analysis and risk evaluation by the system in case of zero-rated supply within 7 days of the acknowledgement of refund application.

Also, a facility has been provided to the registered taxpayers to track the status of their refund application on the common portal at every stage. The grounds of rejection of refund claims are communicated in a speaking order under the provisions of the CGST Act, 2017, Chaudhary said.

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