New Delhi, July 21: Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday announced big rate cuts for consumer durables, paints and cosmetics after the 28th Meeting of GST in Delhi. While addressing a press conference in the national capital, Goyal informed that sanitary napkins will be exempted from Goods & Services Tax (GST) along with commemorative coins circulated by the RBI, fortified milk, deities made of stone, marble or wood among others.

Goyal informed that the GST on footwear up to Rs 1000 has been reduced by 5%, while the GST on e-books has gone down to 5 percent from 18 percent.  Sanitary napkins were taxed 12% under the one-year-old GST regime, which attracted serious criticism from various quarters. Goyal informed that no GST will be imposed on stone, marble, rakhi, wooden deities, sal leaves etc.

Goyal informed that a total of 100 items will be impacted by today's decision and said that the GST council has cleared 46 amendments which will be passed in Parliament. During his address, Goyal informed that GST on handbags, jewellery box, wooden box for paintings, artware of glass, stone endeavour, ornamental framed mirrors, handmade lamps, etc have been reduced to 12%.  While the GST on imported urea has been reduced to 5%, the GST on washing machine reduced from 28% to 18%.

Check List of All Products Affected After 28th Meeting of GST in Delhi:

Exempted Items from GST From 12% to 5% From 28 % to 18 %
·   Sanitary pads,

·   Deities made of stone, marbles or wood

·   Raakhis without any precious metals

·   Fortified milk

·   Raw material used in brooms

·   Commemorative coins circulated by the RBI or government

·         Saal leaves

 · Handloom dari

· Fertiliser grade phosphoric acid

 ·  Lithium-ion batteries

·  Vaccum cleaners

·  Food grinders, mixers

·  Shavers, hair clippers

·  Storage water heaters

·  Electric smoothing irons

·  Watercooler

·  Ice cream freezer

·  Refrigerators

·  Hand dryers

·  Cosmetics & Perfumes

·  Scents

· Paint & Varnishes

Goyal said besides revenue collection, the GST council will now focus on job creation as well. The decisions taken today will be applicable from July 27. He added saying traders with turnover up to Rs 5 crore will deposit GST monthly but they don't have to file the returns quarterly. He added saying that exemption limit for traders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Himalaya, Sikkim, increased from Rs 10 lakh to 20 lakh.

The Finance Minister informed that lithium-ion batteries, vacuum cleaners, food grinders, mixers, storage water heaters, head dryers, hand dryers, paint, varnishes, water cooler, milk cooler, ice cream coolers, perfumes, toilet sprays and toilet preparation brought to 18% from 28% slab.

Goyal said the reverse charge mechanism has been stalled till September 30 2019 and said that soon the government will link RFID tags with Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) for transporters. He informed that a special meeting of GST council will be held on 4 August in Delhi that will be focussed on MSMEs.

The GST was launched on July 1, 2017, subsuming over a dozen indirect taxes. The GST Council in January this year had revised rates on 29 items. The biggest rate rationalisation decision was taken by the council in November 2017 when over 200 items were brought in to lower tax brackets from 28%, 18%, and 12%.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 21, 2018 07:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).