GST Council meet begins, exemptions, duty inversion on agenda

The two-day meeting of the GST Council has begun in Chandigarh today. The council is scheduled discuss a slew of measures, including pruning of the exemption list, correcting the inverted duty structure on leather, solar panels, and GST on online gaming.

The council may defer the decision on rate rationalisation and changes with the GST slabs on concerns about high inflation. It may also defer a decision of bringing the cryptocurrency under the 28% GST slab. A group of ministers (GoM) under the GST Council has recommended 28% GST on online gaming, casinos and horse racing on the lines of betting.

Rate fitment

The fitment panel has made many recommendations to the GST Council, including pruning the exemption list. Recommendations say unbranded food items should be removed from the list of exemptions. Exemptions granted to puffed rice, parched rice and flattened rice can also be removed.

Similarly, items like papad, paneer, honey and food grans could also be removed from the list of exemptions. The council may increase the GST rate on tetra packaging paper to 18% from the current 12%.

Inverted duty structure

Manufactured goods in the lower rate slab suffer duty inversion challenge due to higher taxes on the input goods. The council is likely take up the correction of duty inversion in a number of sectors. A correction may be looked into sectors like railway wagons, parts, solar cell, panel and inverter.

E-way bill on gold

For interstate movement of consignment valued over ₹50,000 e-way bill is compulsory. Gold, however, has been exempt from e-way bill due to security concerns. Due to the instances of tax evasion, the GST Council may deliberate on bringing gold under the e-way bill system.