CGST, SGST & IGST
CGST, SGST, and IGST are the three components of India’s GST — CGST and SGST apply to intra-state sales (split between center and state), while IGST applies to inter-state sales.
When you sell to a client in the same state as your business, GST is split into CGST (Central GST) and SGST (State GST) — each typically half of the total GST rate, going to the central and state governments respectively.
When you sell to a client in a different state, the full GST amount is charged as IGST (Integrated GST) instead, collected by the central government and later apportioned to the destination state.
For freelancers billing clients across multiple states, getting this split right on every invoice is one of the most common sources of GST invoice mistakes — invoicing software that auto-detects the client’s state and applies the correct split removes most of that risk.