FM Sitharaman to chair 43rd GST Council meeting on May 28

The Union Finance Ministry said on Saturday, May 15, that the next GST Council meeting will be held on May 28. The announcement of the meeting comes two days after West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra urged the FM to hold a Council meeting to deliberate upon revenue-related matters.

Finance ministers from other opposition states like Punjab had also urged the centre to convene a meeting of the Council earlier this month.

Also Read: Call on bringing fuels under GST to be taken closer to GST Council meet: Sitharaman

A tweet from the FM office said a short while ago, "Smt @nsitharaman will chair the 43rd GST Council meeting via video conferencing at 11 AM in New Delhi on 28th May 2021. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri @ianuragthakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States."

In a letter to FM Sitharaman earlier this week, Mitra urged the Centre to call for a meeting to discuss enhanced compensation to the states in wake of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic leading to lockdown and restrictions.

Also Read: GST Council meeting: Centre vs States again on compensation issue

"As per GoI projection, the shortfall was expected to be Rs 1,56,164 crore in 2021-22, without taking into consideration the impact of Covid Wave-2. Now due to Covid Wave-2 and lockdowns, the compensation will be much higher than what was earlier projected," Mitra said in the letter.

Earlier this month, Punjab FM too had raised concern about the Centre taking decisions unilaterally on subjects that come under the purview of the GST Council and demanded an immediate meeting of the Council.

The last GST council meeting was held in October last year.