Highlights:
- Amid concerns from opposition members regarding the imposition of the GST on certain new items and the issue of rising prices.
- On Tuesday, Nirmala Sitharaman, the union finance minister, issued a list of goods that, when sold loose and without being pre-packaged or pre-labelled, will not be subject to GST.
- The GST Council proposed the list with the unanimous support of all members, the finance minister added in a series of tweets.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the union finance minister, declared on Tuesday that wheat, oats, rice, curd, and lassi will no longer be subject to GST when sold unpackaged, given the widespread opposition to the imposition of a 5% GST on pre-packaged and pre-labelled items starting on Monday. Interestingly, the Goods and Service Tax currently applies to these items, the majority of which are daily necessities.
“The GST Council has exempt from GST, all items specified below in the list, when sold loose, and not pre-packed or pre-labeled. They will not attract any GST,” tweeted Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The @GST_Council has exempt from GST, all items specified below in the list, when sold loose, and not pre-packed or pre-labeled.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) July 19, 2022
They will not attract any GST.
The decision is of the @GST_Council and no one member. The process of decision making is given below in 14 tweets. pic.twitter.com/U21L0dW8oG
Sitharaman said in a series of tweets that the GST Council as a whole, not just one member, decided to charge pre-packaged and pre-labeled goods. “The GST_Council has exempt from GST, all items specified below in the list, when sold loose, and not pre-packed or pre-labeled. They will not attract any GST. The decision is of the @GST_Council and no one member. The process of decision making is given below in 14 tweets,” she said.
According to Sitharaman, the GST Council has recommended reconsidering the approach for imposing GST on certain food items like pulses, cereals, flour, etc. at its 47th meeting. There have been numerous misconceptions spread about this, she claimed.
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“Is this the first time such food articles are being taxed? No. States were collecting significant revenue from foodgrain in the pre-GST regime. Punjab alone collected more Rs 2,000 cr on food grain by way of purchase tax. UP collected Rs 700 cr,” Sitharaman said in her tweet.
However, Sitharaman stated that it has been mandated that GST on these goods shall apply when sold in pre-packaged and branded commodities attracting the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act.
List of goods sold unpackaged that are exempt from GST:
- Pulses/ Daal
- Wheat
- Rye
- Oats
- Maize
- Rice
- Aata/ Flour
- Suji/ Rawa
- Besan
- Puffed Rice
- Curd/ Lassi
