GST state code list: all 38 codes, how to read a GSTIN, and why the first two digits matter

Every GST number in India starts with two digits, and those two digits are a state code. They are the smallest piece of the GST system and one of the most consequential: they decide which tax office holds your file, whether your invoice carries CGST and SGST or IGST, whether your customer’s input tax credit matches, and whether an e-way bill or an e-invoice is accepted at all.

This page is meant to be bookmarked. Below is the complete list of GST state codes — every state and union territory, including the codes that were merged or retired and are still floating around on old paperwork. After the table, we explain how to read a 15-character GSTIN one field at a time, why the state code drives the tax split, how the code differs from your jurisdiction, and the handful of mistakes that cost businesses the most time.

Everything here is stated as of September 2026. The rules come from the CGST Act, 2017, the CGST Rules, 2017 and the place-of-supply provisions of the IGST Act; the code list itself is published by the GST Network and changes only when the map of India changes.

What a GST state code is

A GST state code is a two-digit number assigned to each state and union territory. It is the first field of the GSTIN, and it comes from the census-style state codes India already used before GST, which is why the numbering runs roughly north to south rather than alphabetically.

The code answers one question: which state issued this registration? Everything else about the taxpayer — name, constitution, turnover, jurisdiction — sits elsewhere. It is a routing label, not a description of the business.

Three things follow from that:

• The code is state-wide. There is no separate code for a city, district or pin code. Every GSTIN in Tamil Nadu starts with 33, whether the business is in Chennai or Coimbatore.
• The code identifies the location of the supplier. On an invoice, your state code and your customer’s state code are two different fields, and comparing them is what decides the tax head.
• A single PAN can carry many different state codes, one per state where it is registered. That is not an anomaly; it is how GST is designed.

The full GST state code list

Codes 01 to 38 cover the states and union territories. Codes 97 and 99 sit outside the geographic series and are explained under the table.

Reading the table quickly. If a code you are checking is 25 or 28, you are almost certainly looking at an old document or a stale master-data file. Both are valid history; neither is issued today. Everything else in the 01–38 range is live.

If you are picking a state to register in because a marketplace or a client needs a presence there, the SimplySetup state-by-state address table lists these same codes next to the addresses actually available in each state, so you can see which code you would end up with.

How to read a 15-character GSTIN

A GSTIN is fifteen characters, and every character has a job. Take this example number:

29AAAAA0000A1ZY

Two consequences of this layout are worth internalising.

Your PAN is visible in your GST number. Characters three to twelve are the PAN exactly as issued. That is deliberate — it links your GST record to your income-tax record — but it also means a GSTIN is not a secret identifier and should not be treated as one.

All your GSTINs look almost identical. Because the PAN sits in the middle and Z sits at position fourteen, a company with registrations in Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu will hold three numbers that differ only in the first two characters and possibly the last. This is exactly why the wrong GSTIN gets pasted into an invoice template: the numbers are nearly indistinguishable at a glance.

The thirteenth character matters less often but is worth knowing. Under Rule 11 of the CGST Rules a person with more than one place of business in a state may take separate registrations for them; each one increments this character. Most businesses never go past 1.

Why the state code decides CGST + SGST or IGST

GST is a destination-based tax collected through two routes. Which route applies depends on a comparison of two locations: the location of the supplier and the place of supply. The state code in your GSTIN is the location of the supplier.

• Same state — the supply is intra-state. Tax is split into Central GST and State (or Union Territory) GST, each half of the applicable rate.
• Different states — the supply is inter-state. A single Integrated GST is charged at the full rate, and the centre later settles the state’s share.

The total the customer pays is the same either way. What changes is which heads appear on the invoice and in the returns — and getting that wrong is not a cosmetic error, because the customer’s credit sits under the head you charged.

Example 1: same code on both sides

A design studio registered in Karnataka (GSTIN beginning 29) bills a manufacturer in Karnataka (GSTIN beginning 29) for services delivered at the client’s Bengaluru factory. Supplier state code and place of supply are both Karnataka, so the invoice carries CGST and SGST.

Example 2: different codes

The same studio bills a client in Maharashtra (GSTIN beginning 27) for the same work delivered remotely. The supplier is still in Karnataka; the place of supply, for a service to a registered person, is the client’s location. Two different state codes, so the invoice carries IGST instead.

Place of supply has its own rules — goods versus services, registered versus unregistered recipients, immovable property, transport, events — and they can put the place of supply somewhere other than the customer’s billing address. The state code comparison is the last step, not the whole test.

State code vs jurisdiction: two different fields

People often use “state code” and “jurisdiction” as if they meant the same thing. They do not, and both are printed on your registration certificate in FORM GST REG-06.

Every registration is allocated to either the central tax authority or the state tax authority. That allocation is made administratively; you do not choose it. Whichever side you fall on, the officer named in your jurisdiction block is the one who processes queries in FORM GST REG-03, approves amendments, and orders a physical verification of your premises if one is required.

The certificate is the first place to look for your jurisdiction. The second is the GST portal: Search Taxpayer returns the Centre and State jurisdiction for any active GSTIN, alongside the legal name and status. If you have lost the certificate, the jurisdiction is recoverable from there in a few seconds — and it is also how you check a supplier’s.

Keep it written down. Note the state code, the Centre jurisdiction and the State jurisdiction for every GSTIN you hold, in one file. When a notice arrives referring to a range or a division, you want to know instantly which of your registrations it belongs to.

The codes that changed — 25, 28 and 38

Three entries in the list exist because the map changed. They are the reason a code list from 2018 will not match one from today.

1. 25 folded into 26. Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli were separate union territories with codes 25 and 26. They were merged into a single union territory on 26 January 2020, and code 26 now covers the combined territory. Code 25 is no longer issued.
2. 28 replaced by 37. Code 28 belonged to the undivided Andhra Pradesh. When Telangana was formed it took code 36, and Andhra Pradesh was reissued as 37. Registrations under 28 were migrated. If a vendor master still shows a supplier at 28, that record is stale.
3. 38 created for Ladakh. Ladakh became a separate union territory in 2019 and was given a new code, 38 — the highest in the geographic series. Jammu & Kashmir kept 01.

The practical takeaway is small but real: if you maintain a hard-coded list of state codes in an ERP, an invoice template or a validation script, check it against the table above. Lists written before 2020 fail on Ladakh and treat 25 as current.

How many GSTINs does a business need?

Registration under GST is state-wise. Section 25 of the CGST Act gives one registration per state per PAN, and you need one in every state from which you make taxable supplies or hold a place of business. So the count is not “one per company” — it is one per state you operate in.

• A consultancy working out of one office in Pune, billing clients across India: one GSTIN, starting 27. Sales to other states are simply IGST invoices.
• A seller whose stock sits in marketplace fulfilment centres in Karnataka, Haryana, Telangana and West Bengal: four GSTINs, starting 29, 06, 36 and 19, because goods are stored and supplied from each of those states.
• A company with a head office in Mumbai and a service branch in Chennai that bills from there: two GSTINs, 27 and 33.

This is where the practical problem starts. A GSTIN needs an address in that state, with a valid possession document. Renting an office in a state you only need a tax presence in is disproportionate, which is why address-only registrations exist: a real commercial premises, taken on a rent or leave-and-licence agreement with the owner’s NOC and a recent utility bill, filed as the principal place of business. The mechanics, the document set and the officer’s visit are covered in our VPOB and APOB guide, and the paperwork itself in the NOC and rent agreement guide.

SimplySetup’s GST Registration package is built for exactly this: an address in the state you need, plus the rent agreement, owner NOC and utility bill kit that FORM GST REG-01 asks for, with staff on site to receive mail and a visiting officer. Addresses are listed state by state and city by city, so you can see the code you will end up with before you commit.

Where the state code shows up in daily work

Once you hold more than one GSTIN, the state code stops being trivia and becomes an operational field.

Common mistakes with state codes

Almost every state-code problem is a copy-paste problem, and almost all of them surface late — usually when someone else’s credit does not reconcile.

The wrong GSTIN on the invoice

A multi-state business bills a Delhi customer using the Karnataka GSTIN because that is what the default template holds. The invoice charges IGST when it should have charged CGST and SGST, or the reverse. The customer’s GSTR-2B does not match their books, they ask for a credit note and a fresh invoice, and the correction has to be carried into the next return. Fix it structurally: one invoice template per GSTIN, with the state address and number hard-coded, rather than one template with a dropdown.

Right state, wrong address

The GSTIN is correct but the address printed under it is the head office in another state. Rule 46 wants the address of the place of business in the supplying state. This is the version of the error that survives longest, because the tax computes correctly and nobody notices until an audit.

E-way bill and e-invoice rejections

An e-invoice is rejected because the recipient GSTIN is inactive or mistyped; an e-way bill is generated from the wrong GSTIN so the from-state does not match the dispatch location. Both are validation failures at the portal, so they stop the consignment rather than quietly distorting a return.

A stale code in a vendor master

A supplier record still shows 28 for Andhra Pradesh, or a validation script rejects 38 because it was written before Ladakh existed. Both are one-line fixes once you know to look.

Not amending after a move

You move premises within the state and never file the amendment. Rule 19 requires FORM GST REG-14 within 15 days of the change, and Rule 21 allows cancellation where business is not conducted from the declared place. The state code does not change — but the address behind it must be true.

A move across a state line is not an amendment. REG-14 cannot change the first two digits of a GSTIN. Crossing a state border means a fresh registration in the new state and, if nothing is supplied from the old one any more, cancellation there. The registered office guide covers how this differs from an MCA address change.

How to check a GSTIN before you trust it

Two checks, in this order.

1. Shape. Fifteen characters. First two digits a valid state code from the table above. Characters three to twelve in PAN format — five letters, four digits, one letter. Character fourteen normally Z. If any of that fails, the number is wrong before you look further.
2. Check character. The fifteenth character is derived arithmetically from the first fourteen, so a single mistyped digit almost always breaks it. Accounting software, the e-invoice portal and the e-way bill portal all run this check for you; you do not need to do the arithmetic yourself.
3. Status. Open Search Taxpayer → Search by GSTIN/UIN on the GST portal and enter the number. You get the legal name, trade name, date of registration, constitution of business, status, and the Centre and State jurisdictions. Confirm the legal name matches the party you are dealing with and that the status is active.

Step three is the one that matters. A GSTIN can be perfectly formed, pass the check character, and still belong to a registration that was cancelled last year — in which case any credit you claim against its invoices is at risk. Format proves typing; the portal proves existence.

Quick reference

Legal references. CGST Act, 2017: Sections 22, 24, 25. CGST Rules, 2017: Rules 11, 18, 19, 21, 46. Forms REG-01, REG-06, REG-14. Place of supply and the CGST/SGST–IGST split follow the IGST Act, 2017.

What to do next

If you only needed the code, take it from the table and move on. If you are about to register, work backwards from the state: decide where you actually have or need a place of business, confirm you can produce a valid address proof there, and only then start FORM GST REG-01 — the document checklist and the registration walkthrough set out what the portal will ask for. If the state you need is one where you have no premises, look at what an address-only registration involves before you rent anything; sellers registering across warehouse states usually start with the e-commerce set-up. SimplySetup can supply the address and the document kit for a state and keep staff there to receive mail and an officer; what it cannot do is make a registration necessary in a state where you have no real business. Tell us the state and what you sell, and we will send back the exact document list and a fixed price for that state.