Mohandas Pai dismisses ‘silly’ Mahakumbh Mela GST collection claim, netizens say ‘you mean hotels and travel were free’

Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai dismissed allegations of false goods and services tax collections during the Kumbh Mela 2025, which was held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

Pai shared a post by an X user, who called out the “Kumbh propaganda” of the Uttar Pradesh government, portraying incorrect revenue and GST collection numbers.

X user’s claim

“66 crores people visited (Kumbh Mela), ₹7,000 crores investment and ₹300,000 crores revenue….It means Uttar Pradesh should have received 54,000 crores GST collection in February. But, Uttar Pradesh received only ₹9155 crores as GST collection! What happened to rest ₹44,845 crores GST collection?” the user wrote.

Also Read | Perplexity AI steps in as Suresh Sambandam questions Kumbh Mela visitor count

What did Mohandas Pai say?

Responding to the post, Mohandas Pai called the allegation “silly” and stated that much of the revenue generated during Mahakumbh 2025 does not fall under the ambit of GST.

“Silly statement. For GST the input tax is a credit so no one on one correlation. Much of the spending has no GST, food, necessities, boat trips, local spending,unregistered small business etc. fuel charges has State taxes not GST,” Pai said.

Further, he said that the GST collection for the Kumch period is not out yet, and the revenue numbers claimed by the X user are false.

“3l cr is estimated spending not revenue for govt. GST recd in Feb is for Jan, Khumb was largely in Feb. we need to wait to see the impact on GST (sic),” Pai added.

Also Read | India’s GST collection rises 9.1% to ₹1.84 lakh crore in February 2025

Social media users react

Several social media users have reacted to Pai’s post, some supporting his stance while others raising questions.

One of the users commented, “Agreed . Most of the businesses are not gst registered. But supplies must have suffered GST at some point in the supply chain. I cant believe that ₹3 lakh crore figure impact will not be seen in Feb 25 GST collection in the month of March (sic).”

“U did not count GST spent on hotels, travel, restaurant, purchase of goods. is there no GST on goods, hotel, travel bookings, restaurants etc ???(sic)” added another.

“Mahakumbh started from Jan 13 to Feb 26, so more than half of Jan should have some Kumbh impact in terms of higher GST. Let’s see Feb numbers,” another user said.

“You mean Hotels and Travel agencies apart from Consumption of FMCG brands was free?” added one of the users.

Also Read | Maha Kumbh: UP sets world record for largest synchronised sweeping drive | Watch

Mahakumbh 2025 revenue collection

It was expected that the Mahakumbh Mela would generate more than ₹2 lakh crore in revenue, according to Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nand.

The UP Chapter of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a pan-India trader’s body, expects that the revenue generated by basic items required by devotees during the holy gathering will be nearly ₹17,310 crore, as Mint reported on January 14.

Groceries were estimated to generate ₹4,000 crore revenue, edible oils ₹1,000 crore, vegetables ₹2,000 crore, beds, mattresses, bedsheets and other household goods ₹500 crore, milk and other dairy products ₹4,000 crore, hospitality ₹2500 crore, travel ₹300 crore and boatmen ₹50 crore.

The last Mahakumbh Mela conducted in 2013 generated a revenue of around ₹12,000 crore, while Kumbh Mela 2019 reported ₹1.2 lakh crore revenue, according to a study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

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