Group of Ministers on GST rate rationalisation likely to meet on June 17

Group of Ministers on GST rate rationalisation is likely to meet on June 17 to review the proposal of GST slab mergers. The feasibility of merging the 12 per cent and 18 per cent to a single slab may be looked into, a source said.

The meeting is also likely to discuss corrected inverted duty structure on textiles.

Fitment committee has been meeting over various issues and has submitted the review report to Group of Ministers on rate rationalisation.

If the GoM on rate rationalisation concurs with as to what Fitment committee suggests, then they will send their final report to GST council and the final decision will be taken by GST council.

The group of ministers (GoM) has reportedly met only twice since its constitution in September 2021. Led by Karnataka Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, the GoM has not been able to conclude deliberations on revising and rationalising GST rates.

Last December, the 46th GST Council meeting decided to drop a plan to hike GST rates for most textiles products in the man-made value chain from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. At the same time, the Council did not roll back their decision on hiking the GST for low-cost footwear.