FM Nirmala Sitharaman to hold GST Council meeting

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will meet for the first time in seven months on May 28, to discuss key issues such as compensation to states and tax waivers on various medicines, medical devices, and health services amid the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, two officials said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 43rd GST Council meeting via video conferencing.

The GST Council is required to meet once in every quarter. Its meetings are convened by the Union finance ministry as the council is chaired by the Union finance minister. Finance ministers of states and Union territories (UTs) are members of the council, the apex federal body on indirect tax matters.

The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri @ianuragthakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States," Office of Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.

Earlier this month, West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra and Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal had demanded that a virtual GST Council meeting be held.

The meeting of the Council is supposed to take place at least once every quarter of a financial year.

Several states have accused the Centre for violating the constitutional mandate of convening GST Council meeting at least once every quarter.

GST Council met last on October 5 (extended till October 12) last year as it finalised contours of borrowing by states to meet compensation requirement for the shortfall.

were promised compensation for 5 years after GST implementation in July 2017 to make up for revenue shortfall, if any, since states lost autonomy over indirect taxes. Compensation cess is levied on a few items in the 28 per cent GST slab, such as automobiles, cigarettes, and aerated drinks.