The said GST council will be meeting for the first time after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power for third time straight. Nirmala Sitharaman was again given the responsibility of Finance Ministry for the second consecutive term. She is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY25, that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government’s priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat.
The meeting will be convened before the first Parliamentary session of 18th Lok Sabha which is scheduled for June 24. The agenda for the meeting is, however, unclear at the moment and will be firmed up in the next few days.
Key decisions taken in last GST council meet:
The last meeting chaired by the Finance Minister included the decision to reduce the GST on pre-packaged and labelled millet flour with 70 per cent millet content from 18 per cent to 5 per cent. Millet floor has been exempted from GST if sold in loose form. Additionally, the council decided to exempt services of water supply, public health, sanitation conservancy, solid waste management and slum improvement and upgradation supplied to Governmental Authorities from being taxed under GST. The council also decided on reduction or expemtion from taxing distilled alcohol and other commodities. The lastest GST collections for month of May 2024 stands at Rs 1.73 lakh crore, around 10 per cent higher on an annual basis. The collections saw a fall from record high of Rs 2.1 lakh crore collected in April.
(with agency inputs)
