Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman To Chair Meeting, Tax Cut On COVID Essentials On Agenda
GST Council Meeting 2021: Finance Minister will chair the 44th GST Council virtually tomorrow
GST Council Meeting 2021: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 44th goods and service tax (GST) Council meeting on Saturday, June 12, through video conferencing, which is expected to decide on tax cuts for COVID-19 essential items and the black fungus medicine. The GST Council meeting will be conducted at 11 am in New Delhi and will be attended by the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, along with senior officials of the government as well as finance ministers of various states and Union territories. (Also Read: Black Fungus Medicine Exempted From Tax: Key Takeaways From GST Council Meet )
Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will chair the 44th GST Council meeting via video conferencing at 11 AM in New Delhi tomorrow. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri. @ianuragthakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States. pic.twitter.com/pslBvrD31k
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) June 11, 2021
In its previous meeting on May 28, the GST Council referred the decision over the tax rates on COVID vaccines to a group of ministers (GoM). The GST Council meeting will discuss the report of the GOM tomorrow, headed by Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, on GST concessions on COVID-19 essential items such as medical grade oxygen, hand sanitisers, pulse oximeters, ventilators, among others. The ministers also discussed drugs, vaccines, medicines for the treatment of COVID-19, and testing kits for detection.
Presently, a five per cent GST is levied on the domestically manufactured vaccines, while it is 12 per cent for COVID-19 drugs and oxygen concentrators. In the previous GST Council meeting, the tax was exempted on the import of Amphotericin B, a medicine used for the treatment of black fungus infection.
The 43rd GST council meeting on May 28 was held after a gap of almost eight months. The previous one – 42nd GST Council meeting, was conducted last year, on October 5, 2020.
