GST Council to meet on October 7; will there be good news for liquor manufacturers?

The GST Council will consider decisions impacting a host of industries in its upcoming meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Saturday, October 7. This will be the all-powerful panel’s 52nd meeting since its inception in 2016.

On top of the agenda of the upcoming meeting, to be chaired by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, are the GST rates applicable to molasses and extra neutral alcohol. 

The GST Council may decide to reduce the GST rate applicable to molasses to five per cent from the current 28 per cent, and offer more clarity on the rate applicable to extra neutral alcohol, sources told Zee Business. 

Zee Business also learned from the sources that the following other items may be discussed in the 52nd meeting of the panel: 

• Personal guarantees from directors of a company to issuers may attract a levy to the tune of 18 per cent on one per cent of the total borrowing
• While millets-based flours may not attract GST when sold in an unpackaged form, and attract a lower levy of 12 per cent, instead of the current 18 per cent, when sold in a pre-packaged form

In its 51st meeting, held on August 2, the GST Council went ahead with a decision to levy GST at the rate of 28 per cent on online gaming and casinos on the face value of bets at entry level, even as New Delhi, Goa and Sikkim expressed dissent. The GST levy came into force on October 1. 

This week, the GST Council’s fitment committee rejected industry requests for reducing a GST levy applicable to lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles from 18 per cent to five per cent.

The GST Council, a constitutional body responsible for making decisions on the indirect tax in the country, conducts deliberations from time to time to discuss and find solutions to issues related to GST. Over the years, the panel has been instrumental in resolving a string of issues by revising the tax rates, exemptions, thresholds, and administrative procedures related to GST.