New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) The CBIC on Wednesday said monthly GST revenue growth figures are calculated on a comparable tax base and described cherry-picking of figures by including the erstwhile compensation cess as "misleading and mischievous".

In a reply to former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg's post on X, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said the GST revenue figures published monthly reflect the correct picture of GST revenue performance, with full disclosure, and the purpose of a growth figure is to show how the tax base has changed.

"A growth rate is meaningful only when it is computed on a comparable basis, that is, on the same set of levies on both sides of the comparison. Otherwise, it is like comparing apples and oranges," the CBIC said.

In his post, Garg said the government collected Rs 1.99 lakh crore in gross GST in August 2026, which is 14.8 per cent higher than last year.

The growth is 11 per cent over five months of the fiscal year to Rs 10.43 lakh crore.

"Govt played a trick though. 2025-26 GST Cess has been quietly excluded. When included, 5-month gross GST growth becomes 4.08 per cent and net 1.30 per cent, a pathetic performance," Garg said.

In response, the CBIC said attempts to cherry-pick figures from two different tax bases are thoroughly "misleading and mischievous".

"A fair analysis must compare like with like, instead of misleading our citizens by comparing two fundamentally different data-sets," CBIC said.

Last year, the GST Council decided to discontinue the compensation cess effective from September 22, 2025, on all items except tobacco and related products.

The cess levy on tobacco and related products was also removed from February 1, 2026. Accordingly, for the above period, there is no cess collection.

From November 2025 (first tax period post GST rate rationalisation), GST revenue figures are published showing compensation cess separately in the table, and year-on-year growth was computed on the tax base consisting of Central GST, State GST and Integrated GST for the corresponding periods. PTI JD BAL BAL