: GST Council to schedule meet in early January to discuss inverted duty structure #finance #StockMarketNEWS GST Council to schedule meet in early January to discuss inverted duty structure New Delhi,

GST Council to schedule meet in early January to discuss inverted duty structure #finance #StockMarketNEWS
GST Council to schedule meet in early January to discuss inverted duty structure New Delhi, 13 Dec (KNN) The centre is planning to meet in first week of January with the GST council. The meeting is likely to discuss inverted duty structure for a few more items and will also serve as a platform for pre-budget discussion as reported by business standard.

The current winter session of parliament ends on 23rd December, 2021 followed by the Christmas- New year period. “After that we would like to have a meeting of the GST Council, depending on whether there can be a quorum” according to government sources.

In the meeting, Finance Minister Sitharaman and senior budget-makers, including Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj, are likely to take views of state finance ministers in their expectations from the 2022-23 Union Budget. Officials said that a decision is yet to be taken on which items will be considered for rate rationalisation; the group of Ministers formed to review the matter has not submitted its report.

Industry body representatives, on the other hand, said that rates of some pharmaceutical products need to be rectified as reported by Business Standard.

“Some pharmaceutical products and tractors still come under the inverted duty structure,” said Ajmer Singh Bisla, senior advisor- indirect taxation, Confederation of Indian Industries. Industry body also suggested that those in the 5 or 12 per cent bracket whose input material are taxed higher need correction.

Government officials quoted by Business Standard said that there had been representation from fertilizer manufacturers on inverted duty structure; they said a considered view will be taken on products linked to the agriculture sector.

At the 45th GST Council Meeting in Lucknow on 17th September, the Council had decided to rectify the inverted duty structure for footwear and textiles. The rate for footwear and textiles of any value was raised to 12 per cent, effective from 1st January, 2022.

A couple of weeks ago industry body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry had urged the GST Council to rationalise rates, stating that the current rates are not in sync with the demand creation and employment generation in the country.