Governor of Nagaland, Nand Kishore Yadav, held a review meeting with the Department of State Taxes at Lok Bhavan, Kohima, on 10th August 2026. The Department made a detailed presentation on its organisational structure, revenue performance, initiatives, achievements, challenges and future roadmap. 

            The Department informed that it currently has 11,592 active registered taxpayers across its four zones—Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung and Chumoukedima. Its core activities include registration, ensuring timely filing and proper payment of taxes, scrutiny of returns, audit, enforcement, adjudication and recovery, appeals, refunds, and tax education and awareness. 

            The review highlighted a significant increase in the State’s tax revenue. Total tax collection rose from ₹1,427.03 crore in FY 2024-25 to ₹1,597.51 crore in FY 2025-26, registering an increase of ₹170.47 crore. The Department noted that the increase in revenue was substantially higher than the previous year, when the growth was ₹68.05 crore.

            For FY 2026-27, the Department reported tax collection of ₹466.98 crore during the first quarter (April–June 2026), an increase of ₹23.96 crore over the corresponding period of the previous year.

            The five-year revenue trajectory presented during the meeting showed sustained growth, with total tax revenue increasing from ₹1,122.71 crore in FY 2021-22 to ₹1,597.51 crore in FY 2025-26, representing a 11.9% year-on-year increase in FY 2025-26. GST constituted the largest component of the State’s tax revenue, contributing ₹1,181.88 crore, or 74%, in FY 2025-26. 

            The Department further informed that GST collection, comprising SGST and IGST, increased from ₹187.57 crore in FY 2017-18 to ₹1,181.88 crore in FY 2025-26, representing a growth of 530%. GST collection for the current financial year stood at ₹450.35 crore up to July 2026. 

            The Department highlighted several initiatives undertaken to improve tax administration and compliance. These include G-RAMS (GST Returns and Adjudication Management System), online TCC application, online registration and payment of Professional Tax, N-GAIN (Nagaland GST Analytics and Intelligence Network), GST awareness campaigns, market surveys, compliance checks and GST Registration Data Cleansing–Compliance Assessment & Market Survey (GRDC-CAMS).

            Enforcement measures include inspection drives against fake invoices and registrations, inventory checks, and the opening of a counter at the Railway Parcel Office to track movement of goods. The Department also emphasised coordination between the Central GST and State GST authorities. 

            Among the major achievements highlighted were the development of an in-house digital Professional Tax platform, recovery of ₹17 crore in petroleum arrears as of August 6, 2026, and Nagaland being ranked first in the Northeast and 16th in India for the launch of Biometric Aadhaar Authentication Registration. 

            The Department also highlighted strong GST revenue growth during FY 2025-26, stating that Nagaland recorded GST revenue growth of 37% up to December 2025 and 28.4% for FY 2025-26, both figures being higher than the corresponding all-India averages cited in the presentation. 

            The Department apprised the Governor of key operational challenges, including shortage of manpower, the need for continuous upgradation of IT infrastructure, increasing workload arising from taxpayer registrations and return filings, and the growing volume of GST data requiring scrutiny and risk assessment. Enforcement challenges include detection of unregistered taxpayers and tax evasion, field verification of high-risk taxpayers, and monitoring of works contracts, interstate transactions and other revenue-sensitive sectors. 

            The Department also stressed the need to dispel the historical resistance towards payment of taxes and proposed promoting tax compliance as a people’s movement.

            Under its ‘Vision 2063 and Beyond’, the Department envisions a robust, transparent and dynamic revenue ecosystem that fosters voluntary compliance, drives innovation, strengthens governance and enables sustainable growth. It has set revenue milestones of ₹2,400+ crore by 2030, ₹5,000+ crore by 2038, ₹11,000+ crore by 2047 and ₹50,000+ crore by 2063. 

            The Department identified seven key growth drivers for achieving these milestones: expansion and restructuring of the Department, state-of-the-art IT infrastructure, constitution of a State Revenue Board, training and capacity building, making tax compliance a people’s movement, establishment of a legal cell, and provision of basic conveyance and accommodation support for officers and staff. 

            The review meeting is part of the Governor’s ongoing assessment of the functioning and performance of various departments of the State Government.

            The meeting was attended by Finance Commissioner, Kesonyu Yhome, IAS and other officials of the State Taxes Department.

           

            (PRO Lok Bhavan)