UPSC Mains 2019 GS Paper 3 Q1: model answer
Enumerate the indirect taxes which have been subsumed in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India. Also, comment on the revenue implications of the GST introduced in India since July 2017.
What the question wants
List the indirect taxes merged into GST and comment on how GST has affected revenue since July 2017.
How to structure it
List, then revenue comment.
- Central taxes subsumed
- State taxes subsumed
- Kept out
- Revenue implications
How to think it through
Central: excise, additional excise, service tax, CVD, SAD, central surcharges and cesses. State: VAT, CST, entry tax, luxury, entertainment, purchase tax, advertisement and betting taxes, state cesses. Revenue was weak at first, with compensation to states; it has since grown strongly.
Model answer
GST replaced 17 taxes and 13 cesses on 1 July 2017.
Central taxes subsumed
- Central excise duty and additional excise duties
- Service tax
- Countervailing duty (CVD) and special additional duty (SAD) on imports
- Central surcharges and cesses on goods and services
State taxes subsumed
- VAT and Central Sales Tax
- Entry tax, octroi and purchase tax
- Luxury tax and entertainment tax (except that levied by local bodies)
- Taxes on advertisements, and on lotteries, betting and gambling
- State cesses and surcharges Kept out: alcohol for human consumption,
and five petroleum products for now.
Revenue implications
- Early shortfall: monthly collections stayed below the ₹1 lakh crore mark for much of 2017–19; frequent rate cuts and teething problems with returns hurt.
- Compensation: the Centre had to pay states for revenue growth below 14% a year.
- Wider base: registered taxpayers roughly doubled, and e-way bills and e-invoicing checked evasion.
- Later buoyancy: gross collections reached about ₹22 lakh crore in 2024–25.
- States lost autonomy over rates.
The 2025 rate rationalisation tests GST again.
Draw: Two boxes, Centre and States, feeding into one GST box (CGST, SGST, IGST).
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
17 taxes and 13 cesses, CVD, SAD, VAT, CST, entry tax, compensation (14%), e-way bill, e-invoicing, buoyancy.
Where most answers lose marks
- Listing customs duty as subsumed. Basic customs duty continues outside GST.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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