Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that 99% of all goods and services being taxed under GST are now either in zero, 5%, or 18%, and only 1% is being taxes as demerit or sin goods.
The Central government may lose around Rs 10,664 crore in Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) revenues after the latest round of GST rate rationalisation, according to an assessment by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).
The GST rate rationalisation is expected to soften the price of thermal coal, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of India’s power generation. This is a move that will reduce cost of power generation.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on GST rate rationalisation has recommended that the exemption on handloom products and raw silk should continue, providing relief to artisans and small weavers across the country.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that proposed GST rate rationalisation was aimed at providing greater relief to the common man, farmers, the middle class and MSMEs, while ensuring a simplified, transparent and growth-oriented tax regime.
Removal of the 12% and 28% slabs of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was supported, with some suggestions, by the relevant Group of Ministers (GoM) on Thursday.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a key meeting on Wednesday on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that a rejig in the rates — reducing it mostly to two slabs of 5% and 18% — will provide relief to the common man, particularly to farmers, the middle class and small enterprises.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Diwali gift” to the people of India, of reforms to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system, will likely be across three pillars — structural reforms, rate rationalisation, and ease of living — and could entail a shift to a two-rate GST system from the current five-rate system.
A proposal to introduce a uniform 12 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) across the textile value chain may be taken up by the GST Council before September as part of the next phase of GST reforms, a senior government source told Moneycontrol.
The matter concerns a category called non-motorized ‘mobility scooters’ – the kind children zip round on, whether sitting or standing. Those fitted with lights are taxed at 18%, whereas those without lights attract only a 12% Goods and Services Tax (GST).
