The GST Council meeting tentatively scheduled at 20th June may remove more goods from the higher tax slab of 28% prior to Budget presentation next month.
The Council may also discuss to review the GST structure and to bring a new return filing system.
This GST council meeting will be the first meeting to be chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman since she took charge of the finance ministry.
There have been demands of rate cuts for items which are in the higher tax bracket of 28 per cent like Auto parts and cement. The council will also be focusing on merging the tax slabs of 12% and 18% tax in medium terms and it may also focus on ease of filing taxes, e-invoice so, some tweaks can be expected there.
The financial daily report quoted the state government official saying, “Something needs to be done urgently-demand slowdown is quite visible. It could get further entrenched… Jobs are getting impacted.”
Automobiles fall in the 28 per cent GST bracket which led to high product prices and this has impacted sales. In April, passenger vehicles sales witnessed the steepest decline in nearly 8 years with sales dropping by 17.07 per cent as weak customer sentiment led by liquidity crunch and high product prices hit sales.
There are also speculations that the GST Council meeting may be postponed to July 21st due unknown reasons. however, this has not been confirmed by the official sources yet.
