Second GST Council meet under FM Sitharaman postponed; new date to be decided later

GST Council meet: The 36th GST Council meet has been postponed. The meeting that was to be chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was slated to happen through video conferencing on Thursday.

The meeting had to be deferred as the Finance Minister was pre-occupied in the Parliament. Sitharaman was required to be present in the Rajya Sabha as the upper house was scheduled to take up for discussion amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The new date for the GST Council meet would be decided upon later, officials told PTI.

The GST Council meet had only one item on the agenda which was to discuss the proposal to cut GST rates on electric vehicles (EVs) from the current 12% to 5%.

Also Read: GST Council meet updates: Meeting to be chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman gets postponed

West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra had on Tuesday written to Sitharaman objecting to a hurriedly called 'single-agenda meeting' and said other important issues flagged by the states should be included in the agenda.

Mitra said that the Centre was taking a "myopic view" of the automobile industry by proposing a sharp cut in GST rate on e-vehicles, and completely ignoring the "disastrous impact" of such a move on the existing automobile units and entire auto service sector.

GST rate for petrol, diesel cars and hybrid vehicles are already in the highest bracket of 28 per cent plus cess.

Also Read: GST Council to decide on lowering rates for EVs next week

The Council, which is chaired by Union Finance Minister and has state finance ministers as members, in its meeting last month, had referred the issue relating to Goods and Services Tax (GST) concessions on electric vehicles, electric chargers and hiring of electric vehicles, to an officers committee.

The recommendations of the officers' committee were to be placed before the Council on Thursday.

Also Read: Two years of GST: 125 tweaks to make nationwide tax simpler; reduce burden on small businesses, traders