D2C x GST

Hey readers,

Welcome to the twenty-seventh edition of D2C Cents!

Every founder knows where their cash is.

It's in inventory waiting to be sold. It's in receivables waiting to be collected. Or it's sitting in the bank, ready for the next payroll, ad campaign or purchase order.

There's another pool of working capital that rarely gets talked about.

It's the GST you've already paid to your suppliers.

Every rupee of GST you pay a supplier is meant to come back to you as Input Tax Credit (ITC) - working capital you can put back into inventory, advertising, hiring, or simply extending your runway.

The catch?

Getting that money back doesn't depend only on you.

The moment you pay your supplier, you've already paid the GST.

But you only receive that GST back as ITC after your supplier files their GST returns correctly and on time.

When your supplier files on time, the GST you've already paid offsets the GST you owe.

When they don't, that offset isn't available yet.

In effect, every late GST filing becomes an interest-free loan you're giving your supplier.

The money hasn't disappeared, it just isn't available to your business when you need it.

A delayed GST credit rarely feels urgent.

It doesn't trigger an alert.

It doesn't show up on a sales dashboard.

It isn't obvious in your bank balance.

But the impact is real.

The longer those delays continue, the longer your business funds that gap itself.

The challenge is that most founders never see this number.

Which means they never manage it.

GST reconciliation has become more structured over the past year, leaving businesses with less room to correct issues after filing.

The window to identify missing invoices, follow up with suppliers and claim eligible credit is getting tighter.

You have six days, not a month. Here's the cycle:

Between the 14th and the 20th, most finance teams have about six days to review hundreds of purchase invoices, investigate mismatches, contact suppliers, and complete their GST filing.

Miss the deadline to claim eligible ITC, and that working capital is no longer delayed—it can be lost permanently.

During this window, finance teams typically come across a handful of recurring reconciliation scenarios:

Every unresolved mismatch delays a decision, requires supplier follow-ups or postpones eligible credit. 

Across hundreds of invoices, these exceptions can quietly lock up a significant amount of working capital.

Knowing where your ITC is every month is no longer just a finance team's responsibility.

It's part of managing your company's cash flow.

We wanted to make that number visible.

Not as another GST report.

Not as another reconciliation sheet.

But as a simple view of working capital.

One that shows:

• how much ITC is available to claim

• how much is still blocked with suppliers

• which suppliers are delaying your cash

• how much has already been recovered

• how much has been permanently written off

For the finance team, it's GST reconciliation.

For you, it's visibility into working capital that can go back into the business.

See Where Your Cash Is

Founders track revenue because it drives growth.

They track inventory because it ties up capital.

Blocked ITC deserves the same attention.

It's your money.

You've already paid it.

Knowing where it is is the first step to getting it back.

See you next edition - same time, deeper insights.

Until then, keep building strategically.
Abhishek