GST Council Meet Updates: Rates Of Biscuits, Beedis And Footwear Finalised

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has finalised tax rates for a number of commodities, including biscuits, beedis, footwear and readymade garments, a government official told BloombergQuint.

The GST Council meeting is currently underway in New Delhi. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to issue a media statement as soon as the meeting concludes.

BloombergQuint has been able to confirm the tax rates for the following items, as told by the government official quoted above:

• All footwear below Rs 500 at 5 percent; footwear above Rs 500 at 18 percent
• Readymade garments at 12 percent; cotton textiles at 5 percent
• All biscuits to be taxed at 18 percent
• Beedi likely to be taxed at 28 percent, without a cess

Earlier in the day, rules related to transition provisions and returns to be filed under the new indirect tax regime were finalised by the council, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had said. All states have agreed for a July 1 rollout of the GST, Isaac told reporters outside Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

The agenda for the 15th meeting of the GST Council was to clear two important rules relating to transition provisions and returns. The transition rule was deferred as the government is considering to increase the threshold limit of refund for taxes paid on goods in inventory before GST implementation. The current limit is at 40 percent. The industry had lobbied to hike this threshold.

The council had to fix rates for commodities like biscuits, cigarettes, bidis, agricultural equipment, precious metals and textiles. The rate on lottery tickets was also taken up for consideration.

Discussion on the rate of gold has not been taken up till now, Isaac said.