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What the GST Council recommended
At its meeting in New Delhi on 8 October 2026, the 57th GST Council recommended amendments to section 54 of the CGST Act and related rules to introduce a two-phase, system-based refund process. The recommendations cover different refund categories and do not give every applicant the same route or outcome.
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| Refund category or step | Phase 1 proposal | Phase 2 proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Excess balance in electronic cash ledger | Automatic sanction of the full refund. | No separate Phase 2 treatment stated. |
| Zero-rated supplies | Automatic provisional sanction of 90% of the claimed amount, subject to system identification and risk evaluation. | Automatic sanction of the full claim for acknowledged applications, after pending dues are adjusted and subject to system risk evaluation. |
| Inverted duty structure (IDS) | Automatic provisional sanction of 90% of the claimed amount, subject to system identification and risk evaluation. | The Council release does not describe an equivalent Phase 2 full-sanction step for IDS claims. |
| Acknowledgment or deficiency memo | Proposed period reduced from 15 days to 10 days. If neither is issued within 10 days of the application, the application would be deemed acknowledged. | For Phase 2, the system would provide acknowledgment after verification. |
The 90% figure refers to a provisional sanction in Phase 1, not an unconditional final refund or a promise that 90% of every GST refund will be paid within 13 days. The Council’s announcement says the provisional process would depend on system identification and risk evaluation.
What “13 days” means—and what it does not
BusinessToday reported on 8 October 2026 that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman described 90% of refunds as likely to be cleared within 13 days. The report explained the figure as 10 days to acknowledgment plus three days after acknowledgment for the 90% sanction.
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The Press Information Bureau’s official account confirms the Council’s proposed 10-day acknowledgment period and 90% provisional sanction, but it does not state a three-day sanction deadline. Nor does it establish that the combined period is 13 calendar days, a statutory service guarantee, or a timeline that applies to every claim. Treat “13 days” as a reported shorthand, not a guaranteed refund date.
Who may qualify for provisional sanction
The Council’s 2026 recommendation makes Phase 1 provisional sanction system- and risk-based. It should not be read as automatic approval for all applicants. Existing context is provided by CBIC Instruction No. 06/2025-GST, dated 3 October 2025, which describes risk-based provisional processing for zero-rated refunds: low-risk applications identified by the system were to receive 90% provisionally after acknowledgment in FORM GST RFD-02, while applications not categorized as low risk proceeded to detailed scrutiny.
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That instruction preserves statutory conditions, including exclusions for notified persons and the non-prosecution requirement. It also allows scrutiny in exceptional cases with recorded reasons and notes circumstances—such as certain unresolved issues with earlier refund claims—in which provisional sanction may not be appropriate. The 2025 instruction is context for the earlier process; it does not make the 2026 Council recommendations operational.
Other proposed changes to refund claims
- Less document handling: The Council recommended making FORM GST RFD-01 information system-readable and dispensing with scanned-document uploads for zero-rated and IDS refund claims.
- Zero-rated goods calculation: It recommended removing the maximum turnover restriction currently expressed as 1.5 times the value of like goods supplied domestically.
- Minimum refund threshold: It recommended clarifying that the ₹1,000 minimum applies to the total refund amount across CGST, SGST/UTGST and IGST.
- Input tax credit: It recommended allowing accumulated credit on capital goods for zero-rated supplies, and on input services and capital goods for IDS claims. For capital-goods credit, the proposed refund would be spread over 60 months and apply to credit availed on or after 1 April 2027.
When businesses can rely on the changes
The Council announcement describes recommendations for amendments; it is not itself confirmation that the legal amendments have been enacted or that the GST portal has implemented the new process. Businesses should check the subsequent legal notifications, applicable rules and portal instructions before changing filing or cash-flow assumptions. Until then, the proposed 90% sanction, 10-day acknowledgment period and Phase 2 automation should be treated as planned changes rather than active entitlements.
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