GST Council takes key decisions in its 45th meeting chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman

The goods and services tax (GST) Council has taken several key decisions in its 45^th meeting held on 17^th September. The meeting was chaired by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Finance ministers of several states attended the meeting. It was the first physical meeting since the onset of pandemic. The last physical meeting of GST council was held 21 months ago on December 18, 2019.

Key decisions taken by the council are:

• Concessional GST rates on Covid-19 related medicines that were announced earlier till September 30 have now been extended till December 31
• GST council exempts to 2 key Covid drugs – Viltepso and Zolgngelsma that were costing around Rs 16 crore
• GST on 7 other medicines as recommended by pharmaceutical department has been brought down from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, till December 31
• GST on cancer-related drugs like as Keytruda has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent
• GST rate on retro-fitment kits for vehicles used by persons with disabilities  has been reduced to 5 per cent
• Inverted duty structure on footwear and textiles would be corrected from January 1, 2022
• GST on fortified rice kernels to be used in schemes like Integrated Child Development Services Scheme has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
• Pens will have single GST rate of 18 per cent
• 12 per cent GST will be levied on specified renewable sector devices
• GST rate on biodiesel supplied to oil marketing companies for blending with diesel has been brought down from 12 per cent to 5 per cent
• Transport of export goods by vessels and air has been exempted from GST due to difficulties being faced by exporters for getting input tax credit refund as a result of technical issues on GST portal
• National permit fee charged by states for granting permit to goods vehicles operating throughout India has been exempted from GST
• Training programmes in which government bears 75 per cent or more of the cost shall now be exempt from GST

There had been speculations regarding GST on petrol and diesel. However, they have been kept out of ambit of GST. Finance Minister said that it is not the appropriate time for GST on petroleum products.