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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026

NEW DELHI – The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Wednesday clarified the growth rate in goods and services tax collections in the current financial year so far shows a shift in tax base amid criticism that the data is being manipulated to show high growth in tax mop-up. The government said a growth rate is "meaningful" when computed on a comparable basis.

"The GST revenue figures published month on month reflect the correct picture of GST revenue performance, with full disclosure," CBIC said in a post on X. "Where a levy has ceased to exist in law, retaining it in the base measures something else altogether. It is neither arithmetically right nor makes any logical sense."

Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, in an article, said the government "played a trick" as the gross GST collection do not amount to actual government revenue. The government data shows that GST collection in the first five months of 2026-27 (Apr-Mar) rose 11% to INR 10.428 trillion by excluding cess collections. In August, GST collections rose 14.8% to INR 1.999 trillion, while on a sequential basis, collections fell 5.4% from INR 2.112 trillion collected in July.

"The purpose of a growth figure is to show how the tax base has moved," CBIC said. The growth rate should be computed "on the same set of levies on both sides of the comparison. Otherwise, it is like comparing apples and oranges."

The government said any attempt to "cherry-pick" data from two different tax bases is "thoroughly misleading and mischievous". "A fair analysis must compare like with like, instead of misleading our citizens by comparing two fundamentally different datasets," the CBIC said.

The GST Council discontinued the compensation cess from Sept. 22, 2025 on all items except tobacco and related products. The cess levy on tobacco and related products was also removed from Feb. 1, resulting in no cess collection. The GST revenue data published from November 2025 transparently showed compensation cess separately in a table below and the year-on-year growth was computed on the tax base consisting of central GST, state GST and integrated GST for the corresponding periods, the CBIC said.  End

Reported by Shweta

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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