GST Council Meeting Update - Description
Hello friends, today we are going to upload the GST Council Meeting Update PDF to help you all. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council held its 45th GST Council Meeting on 17 September 2021 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The GST Council meeting was held for the first time after a year and a half of virtual meetings. Lowering taxes on life-saving drugs, bringing petrol and diesel under the ambit of indirect tax, rationalizing the inverse tax structure, treating food delivery processors as restaurant services were the main highlights of the 45th GST Council meeting.
GST Council Meeting Update PDF- Overview
Concessional GST rates on Covid-related drugs, which were till September 30, have now been extended till December 31 only for medicines, but not for medical equipment. The details of the recommendations 44th GST Council Meeting are given below:
| Sl. No. | Medicines | GST Rate recommended by GST Council |
| 1. | Tocilizumab | Nil |
| 2. | Amphotericin B | Nil |
| 3. | Anti-Coagulants like Heparin | 5% |
| 4. | Remdesivir | 5% |
| 5. | Any other drug recommended by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Dept. of Pharma (DoP) for Covid treatment | 5% |
Reduction of GST rate to 5% on more Covid-19 Treatment Drugs
The proposal of reducing GST from 12% to 5% on seven more drugs till December 31, 2021, was also approved.
| Sl. No. | Medicines | Present GST Rate | GST Rate Recommended by GST Council |
| 1. | Itolizumab | 12% | 5% |
| 2. | Posaconazole | 12% | 5% |
| 3. | Infliximab | 12% | 5% |
| 4. | Favipiravir | 12% | 5% |
| 5. | Casirivimab & Imdevimab | 12% | 5% |
| 6 | 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose | 12% | 5% |
| 7 | Bamlanivimab & Etesevimab | 12% | 5% |
Key Highlights of 45th GST Council Meeting
The key decisions taken at the 45th GST Council Meeting are given here:
- GST Council extends concessional GST rates on drugs used in COVID treatment till December 31st, 2021
- GST Council cuts tax rates on medicines used in cancer treatment from 12 % to 5 %
- GST Council cuts tax rates on biodiesel for blending with diesel cut from 12 % to 5 %
- GST Council agrees to correct the inverted duty structure on footwear and textiles from January 1st, 2022
- 45th GST Council Meeting announced that a group of state ministers (GoM) will look at rate rationalization-related issues, and make recommendations in 2 months
- E-commerce operators need to pay GST on restaurant services supplied through them; tax to be charged at the point of delivery
- The 45th GST Council Meeting took no final decision on the proposal to bring petrol under GST.
GST Rate Changes on Other Goods
| Description | Present GST Rate | GST Rate recommended by GST Council |
| Ores and concentrates of metals such as iron, copper, aluminum, zinc, and a few others |
5% | 18% |
| Specified Renewable Energy Devices and parts | 5% | 12% |
| Cartons, boxes, bags, packing containers of paper, etc. | 12%/18% | 18% |
| Waste and scrap of polyurethanes and other plastics | 5% | 18% |
| All kinds of pens | 12%/18% | 18% |
| Railway parts, locomotives & other goods in Chapter 86 | 12% | 18% |
| Miscellaneous goods of paper like cards, catalogs, printed material (Chapter 49 of tariff) |
12% | 18% |
IGST on import of medicines for personal use, namely
Other medicines used in the treatment of muscular atrophy are recommended by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Pharmaceuticals. |
12% | Nil |
| IGST exemption on goods supplied at Indo-Bangladesh Border | Applicable rate | Nil |
| Unintended waste generated during the production of the fish meal except for Fish Oil | Nil (for the period 1.7.2017 to 30.9.2019) |
|
Clarifications concerning the GST rate on goods
The clarification issued by the 45th GST Council Meeting concerning the GST rate on goods is as follows:
| Sl. No. | Item | GST Rate |
| 1. | Pure henna powder and paste (that have no additives) | 5% |
| 2. | Brewers’ Spent Grain (BSG), Dried Distillers’ Grains with Soluble [DDGS], and other such residues, fall under HS code 2303 | 5% |
| 3. | Laboratory reagents and other goods falling under heading 3822 | 12% |
| 4. | Scented sweet supari and flavored and coated elaichi falling under heading 2106 | 18% |
| 5. | Carbonated fruit beverages of fruit drinks and carbonated beverages with fruit juice | 28% and cess of 12% |
| 6 | Tamarind seeds fall under heading 1209 | Nil for seeds used for sowing, otherwise 5% |
| 7 | External batteries sold along with UPS systems/inverter | 28%, other than lithium-ion batteries |
| 8 | UPS/inverter | 18% |
| 9 | Paper and paperboard containers, whether corrugated or non-corrugated | 18% |
| 10 | Fresh/dried nuts | 5%/12% |
| 11 | Pharmaceutical goods falling under heading 3006 | 12% |
Recommendations Relating to GST Law and Procedure
- A previous 44th GST Council decision stated that interest is to be charged only in respect of the net cash liability under GST. Section 50 (3) of the CGST Act is to be amended retrospectively, from 1st July 2017, to provide that interest is to be paid by a taxpayer on “ineligible ITC availed and utilized” and not on “ineligible ITC availed”. It has also been decided that interest in such cases should be charged on the ineligible ITC availed and utilized at 18% from 1st July 2017.
- The unutilized balance in the CGST and IGST cash ledgers may be transferred between distinct persons (i.e., entities with the same PAN but registered in different states) without a refund procedure.
You can download the GST Council Meeting Update PDF by clicking on the link below.