The GST Council has clarified that compensation cess was discontinued from September 22, 2025, for all items except tobacco and related products, while the cess on tobacco and related products was also discontinued from February 1, 2026. Accordingly, no compensation cess has been collected from the respective effective dates. Since November 2025, GST revenue figures released in the public domain have separately disclosed compensation cess, while year-on-year growth has been calculated using a comparable tax base comprising CGST, SGST and IGST. The Council emphasized that meaningful growth analysis requires comparison of identical tax bases for both periods. Comparing figures based on different levies can create a misleading picture, as discontinued cess cannot logically be retained in the revenue base for subsequent comparisons. It therefore stressed that GST revenue performance should be assessed on a like-for-like basis using the transparently disclosed monthly revenue data.