The corridors of federal fiscal policy lit up in New Delhi on 9 October 2026 as top financial stewards from across India gathered for the 57th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council — and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was squarely in the frame, flanked by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and a constellation of Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers, and senior officials from states and Union Territories.

Who assembled in New Delhi for the 57th GST Council

The GST Council is India's apex constitutional body for indirect-tax governance, bringing together the Union Finance Minister as chairperson and the finance ministers of all 28 states and 8 Union Territories. The 57th meeting continued this tradition of cooperative federalism, drawing a rare single-frame gathering of Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, and Finance Ministers — a visual that signals how consequential the agenda was deemed across party lines.

CM Devendra Fadnavis represented Maharashtra, India's largest economy by GDP and one of the biggest contributors to GST collections nationally. His presence alongside FM Nirmala Sitharaman at the head of proceedings underlines Maharashtra's weight in any national tax-policy conversation.

Why the 57th Council meeting matters for India's tax architecture

The GST Council convenes periodically to revise rate structures, resolve classification disputes, address revenue-sharing between Centre and states, and respond to emerging economic conditions. Each numbered meeting carries a specific agenda, and the 57th session drew enough senior state leadership — including Chief Ministers rather than just finance ministers — to signal that the subjects on the table carried political as well as fiscal weight.

Maharashtra, as a net-contributor state to the GST pool, has a direct stake in decisions around compensation, rate rationalisation, and inter-state settlement mechanisms. Fadnavis's attendance at the Council, rather than deputing only the state's finance minister, reflects the administration's intent to engage at the highest level on tax-revenue questions that bear directly on the state budget.

Cooperative federalism on display

The group photograph shared by the Chief Minister's Office of Maharashtra is more than a ceremonial snapshot — it is a public record of who was at the table when the 57th GST Council deliberated. With representatives cutting across the ruling coalition and opposition-governed states, the frame is a rare image of India's fiscal federalism in practice: competing political mandates, one shared revenue architecture.

As the Council's decisions filter through into rate notifications and state budgets, Maharashtra's direct participation at the top level ensures the state's fiscal position is represented from the opening gavel.