Mumbai, March 14: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday decided to increase the GST on mobile phones from the present 12 percent to 18 percent. The decision was taken by the GST Council in the presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur in their 39th GST Council meeting in New Delhi.

According to the latest updates, as reported by CNBC TV18, the GCT Council gave its approval to hike the GSt charges on mobile from the cureent 12 percent to 18 percent. Apart from this the Council gave relief to domestic maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service providers. Decision was also takem to bring parity with allowing five percent GST, along with the input tax credit. Lotteries to Attract Uniform 28% GST Rate from March 1.

Addressing a press conference, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "It was decided to reduce the GST rate on Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services in respect of aircraft from 18% to 5% with full ITC and to change the place of supply for B2B MRO services to the location of the recipient."

Here's the ANI tweet:

Apart from announcing the major decision, the Council defered to hike the GST on fertilizer and footwear, which was a demand from the council members amid coronavirus outbreak in India. The Council also decided to extend the deadline for filing of GSTR9, GSTR9C for FY18-19 till June 30, 2020.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 14, 2020 06:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).