Lucknow: Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman today chaired the 45th Goods and Service tax Meeting in Lucknow. During the meeting, the council is likely to bring petroleum products under the ambit of GST and extend the GST exemption on COVID-essentials. The meeting would also hold discussions on the rationalization of an inverted duty structure supply chain of certain items among others. Additionally, the cabinet would also initiate a dialogue over modalities of extending the compensation cess and revenue shortfall to the state due to COVID-19.
This is the first time the GST Council has met on the ground in nearly two years. Before the pandemic, the last meeting was conducted in 2019. The Kerala High Court had previously on June 21 issued a directive mentioning petrol and diesel be included in GST, citing the fact that fuel costs have surpassed Rs 100 in some areas this year. The court stated that the GST Council should consider bringing gasoline and diesel under GST due to the record high price of fuel.
The council is also likely to discuss a proposal to designate online food delivery companies like Swiggy and Zomato as aggregators and apply a 5% tax on them It has extended exemptions on specific medications used in COVID-19 treatment until December 31. It has authorized the addition of new drugs to the list of those eligible for reduced rates.
The Council also authorised a specific composition plan for some commodities, as well as capacity-based GST. From April 2022, it has also agreed to raise the GST on brick supplies from 5% to 12% with ITC. It has also approved increasing the GST rate from 5% to 18% on iron, manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt, aluminium, lead, zinc, tin, chromium – ores and concentrates.