GST rates to be finalised on Wednesday

The much awaited Goods and Service Tax (GST) rates are to be finalised on Wednesday in a meeting currently underway chaired by none other than the Finance Minister of India – Arun Jaitley. 

Various options have been proposed in the 1st day’s meeting in a series of three days meeting of GST council viz., 12 & 18 per cent standard GST rates ,4 per cent for precious metals, 6 per cent for other essentials, 26 per cent for some consumer items, additional cess likely on luxury and sin goods , and most services to be taxed at 18 per cent.

Arun Jaitley while talking to press on October 18 said there are at-least five alternate options on rate structure presented to the council.

India awaits the final decision on the GST rate. Corporate India especially will be keenly watching the outcome on GST rate as it will be extremely important to understand the different rates for different types of products.Few experts believe the idea of applying a cess is regressive and the GST rate at 26 per cent, proposed and suggested by some state finance ministers, will not help the broader purpose of implementing GST in India which is supposed to rationalise the tax structure in India by introducing a single tax rate, which is much lower than the current tax rates.