Business News
GST Council cuts rate on majority of items in 28% slab: Bihar FM
The official announcement has not been made yet by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council, at its 23rd meeting on Friday, decided to retain only 50 items in the 28% tax slab, including luxury and negative items, Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters outside the meeting venue.
This would mean that more than 170 articles, many of them common use items, will see their tax rates reducing. The official announcement has not been made yet by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
“GST Council has taken a significant populist measure to substantially trim down the list, which attracted 28% GST rate,” Abhishek A Rastogi, Partner at Khaitan and Co. said in a note. “While it was expected that there will be rate cuts, it was never expected that the list will be trimmed down so significantly.”
“Various consumer products such as detergents, chewing gums, chocolates, aftershave and washing powder have witnessed rate reduction. Further, various other products such as granites and marbles used significantly in the construction sector will become cheap.” Mr Rastogi added.
The GST Council is also expected to increase the threshold limit for the Composition Scheme, and change the monthly return filing system to a quarterly one for all assesses.
