Council Revises GST Rates on 66 Items

India’s most comprehensive indirect tax reform — the goods and services tax (GST) — is inching towards a July 1 rollout with the GST Council cutting the rate on household goods and other essential items, raising the threshold for the scheme that requires lesser compliance and approving another key set of rules relating to audit and accounts.

At its meeting on Sunday in the Capital, the council revised rates on 66 items such as pickles, sauces, fruit preserves, insulin cashew nuts, insulin, school bags, colouring books, notebooks, printers, cutlery, agarbattis and cinema tickets, following representations from industry.

Restaurants, manufacturers and traders having a turnover of up to Rs 75 lakh can avail of the composition scheme with lower rates of 5%, 2% and 1%, respectively, with lower compliance, against Rs 50 lakh previously. A GST rate of 5% will be applicable on outsourcing of manufacturing or job work in textiles and the gems and jewellery sector. Bleaching and cleaning of human hair, a big industry in Midnapore, will not face any tax.

“After considering recommendations of fitment committee, rates are being reduced in the case of 66 items,” FM Arun Jaitley, who is also the chairman of the GST Council, told reporters.

“There were 133 representations… These were considered at length,” Jaitley said.

“The weighted average of all the rates that we have decided is significantly lower than what we are paying today,” he said, adding that therefore there would be an adverse revenue impact if other things remained equal. “But, we are also hoping on revenue buoyancy and a check on inflation that GST will ensure so as to make up for that loss.”

A number of household items in the packaged food category that had been placed in the 18% bracket such as pickles, mustard sauce, ketchups, f fruit preserves and sandwich toppings will now attract 12% GST.

The rate on agarbattis has been lowered to 5% from 12% proposed earlier. School bags will face a rate of 18% instead of 28%, exercise books will attract 12% instead of 18% and colouring books will be exempt instead of 12% proposed earlier. Steel cutlery will attract 12% instead of 18% and computer printers 18% instead of 28%. Fly ash bricks and blocks will attract 12%

Movie tickets costing below Rs 100 will now attract 18% GST while 28% will continue for those over Rs 100. “Consumers will benefit from the reduction in rates,” Jaitley said, adding that states can refund state GST on regional cinema but there cannot be a centralized exemption.
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