Business / Govt releases list of goods whose GST rates have been changed

New Delhi: 45th GST Council Meet: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced the decisions taken by the Council after hours-long in-person meeting. While the Council extended the concessional tax rates on Corona-related medicines till 31st December, it felt it was not the time to include petrol and diesel under the GST, as was speculated ahead of the meeting.   

During a press briefing after the meet, Sitharaman said that there had been lot of media speculation on whether petroleum products would be brought under ambit of GST. "This came on today's agenda purely because of the Kerala High Court order where it suggested the matter to be placed before GST Council. The Council members made it clear they do NOT want petroleum products to be included under GST. It was decided, we will report to Kerala HC that, matter has been discussed and Council felt it was not the time to bring petroleum products under GST," she said.

Covid relief measure in form of rate concessions

The Council today decided to extend existing concessional GST rates on Covid-19 treatment drugs till to 31st December, 2021. These medicines include: Amphotericin B (nil), Remdesivir (5%), Tocilizumab (nil), Anti-coagulants like Heparin (5%).  

Reduction of GST rate to 5%

- Itolizumab

- Posaconazole

- Infliximab

- Favipiravir

- Casirivimab & Imdevimab

- 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose

- Bamlanivimab and Etesevimab

Major recommendations on GST rate changes in relation to Goods

Retro fitment kits for vehicles used by the disabled - GST reduced to 5%

Fortified Rice Kernels for schemes like ICDS etc - GST reduced from 18% to 5%

Medicine Keytruda for treatment of cancer - GST reduced from 12% to 5%

Biodiesel supplied to OMCs for blending with Diesel - GST reduced from 12% to 5%

Ores and concentrates of metals such as iron, copper, aluminum, zinc and few others - GST increased from 5 to 18%

Specified Renewable Energy Devices and parts - GST increased from 5 to 12%

Cartons, boxes, bags, packing containers of paper etc. GST increased from 12/18% to 18%

Waste and scrap of polyurethanes and other plastics - GST increased from 5 to 18%

All kinds of pens - GST increased from 12/18% to 18%

Railway parts, locomotives and other goods in Chapter 86 - GST increased from 12% to 18%

Miscellaneous goods of paper like cards, catalogue, printed material (Chapter 49 of tariff) - GST increased from 12% to 18%

IGST exemption on goods supplied at Indo-Bangladesh (Border haats) - Nil GST

Unintended waste generated during the production of fish meal except for Fish Oil - Nil GST

Nil GST

IGST on import of medicines for personal use, namely: 

- Zolgensma for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

- Viltepso for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

- Other medicines used in treatment of muscular atrophy recommended by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Department of Pharmaceuticals.

The GST Council today decided to tax food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato. Sitharaman informed that 5% GST will be levied at the point where the delivery is made by Swiggy and Zomato. This means that now ordering food online will get costlier.

The finance minister informed that inverted duty structure anomalies for ores and specified metals will be corrected, but the Council has not yet decided on a date for this. 

The FM said revenue neutral position which was 15.5% at time of introduction of GST has steadily come down to around 11.6%. This issue was discussed today's meeting.