New Delhi, September 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Congress General Secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the GST rate cuts announced by the Narendra Modi-led government were being “neutralised by galloping inflation”, arguing that their impact on consumption had been mixed.
Ramesh said the GST rate cuts announced in September 2025 had been projected as “game-changers”. While acknowledging that the reductions were long overdue, he said describing them as a “magic wand” was an exaggeration.
“The effect of GST rate cuts on various commodities is being neutralised by galloping inflation. In many consumer goods, prices have returned to nearly the pre-GST cut level within a year without any meaningful consumption increase,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
He claimed the impact of the cuts varied across sectors, with automobile sales benefiting while apparel sales had not seen a similar boost.
Ramesh also questioned the broader consumption and investment trends in the Indian economy, saying headline quarterly GDP figures may provide “momentary elation” to the government while masking underlying weaknesses.
“Neither is consumption buoyant across income segments nor is private investment booming. Real wages are on the decline,” he claimed.
His remarks came as India’s gross GST collections rose 14.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,99,853 crore in August 2026, according to government data.
The August collection was higher than the Rs 1,74,116 crore recorded in August 2025 but below the Rs 2.11 lakh crore collected in July 2026.
The increase was driven substantially by higher tax collections from imports, with gross GST revenue from imports rising 29 per cent year-on-year to Rs 62,604 crore.
Domestic GST collections also increased, rising 9.3 per cent to Rs 1,37,249 crore in August 2026 from Rs 1,25,570 crore in the same month last year.
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