Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will preside over the 45th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in Lucknow on Friday. During the meeting in Lucknow, the GST Council is scheduled to discuss a number of important issues that may include a proposal to bring petrol and diesel under the GST regime.
A meeting of senior officers of the Union government and the participating states will give a final shape to the preparations for the meeting on Thursday.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and ministers from different states nominated to the council will also attend the meeting being held physically after a gap of 16 months. The council last met physically in New Delhi on March 14, 2020.
"We understand a number of issues are going to be on GST Council's agenda. Various issues that participating states may like to raise are likely to find a place on the GST Council's agenda. This issue (petrol and diesel) may also come up. The Kerala high court in June 2021 directed the GST Council to take a call on the issue," said official sources.
Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna, however, refused to comment on the issue. "We are the host state. We are making arrangements for A comfortable stay of our guests. We are not aware of the GST Council's agenda. We have got confirmation about participation from 24 states so far. Besides Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister of State for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, those reaching Lucknow to participate in the GST Council meeting include deputy chief ministers and finance ministers of several states," Khanna said.
Saket Patawari, executive director at Nexdigm, said that the upcoming meeting could have several matters on the agenda. With the easing out of restrictions leading to revival of businesses and GST revenue collections consistently crossing the Rs 1 lakh crore mark (except in June 2021 due to second wave of COVID), it would be worthwhile for the GST Council members to discuss several long pending issues.
He said that there are 4 major slabs of GST rates and one of the key and long-standing demands of the industry has been to reduce the number of tax slabs to 2-3. Lesser number of rate slabs will do away with classification issues arising in case of goods.
