‘Gangajal is exempt under GST’: CBIC refutes Congress’s ‘18% tax’ charge

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) on Thursday clarified that there is no GST on ‘Gangajal’, used in pooja (rituals) by households across the country.

The clarification comes after the Congress party claimed that the government has imposed an 18 per cent tax on it, while terming it as the “height of loot and hypocrisy”.

“Gangajal is used in pooja by households across the country and puja samagri is exempt under GST… All these items have been exempt since the introduction of GST,” the CBIC said in a post on X.
“GST on puja samagri as discussed in detail in the 14th and 15th meetings of the GST Council held on 18/19 May 2017 and 3rd June 2017 respectively and decided to keep them in the exempt list. Therefore, all these items have been exempt since the introduction of GST,” the department clarified.

This came after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in a post addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X, said that the Uttarakhand government has imposed 18 per cent GST on the Ganga water.In Hindi, Kharge wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Modi ji, The importance of Mother Ganga, the provider of salvation for a common Indian, from birth till the end of his life is very high. It is good that you are in Uttarakhand today, but your government has imposed 18% GST on the holy Ganga water itself.”
He continued, “Not even once did I think about what would be the burden on those who order Ganga water in their homes. This is the height of loot and hypocrisy of your government.”