43rd GST council meeting: Agendas and expectations—what common man should look forward to

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to hold Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting tomorrow, May 28. Sitharaman will chair the 43rd council meeting via video conferencing in the National Capital. Minister of State Anurag Thakur will be also part of the important meeting. Besides Thakur, Finance Ministers of States & UTs and senior officers from Union Government and states. 

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Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will chair the 43rd GST Council meeting via video conferencing at 11 AM in New Delhi tomorrow. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri. @ianuragthakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States. pic.twitter.com/eQUnjCqGE7

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) May 27, 2021

Informing about the meeting on Twitter, the Ministry of Finance tweeted,"Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will chair the 43rd GST Council meeting via video conferencing at 11 AM in

New Delhi tomorrow. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri. @ianuragthakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States."  
Since this second wave of Covid 19 has thrown economy out of gear, it is expected that the Finance Minister would touch upon every possible reasons and provide solutions to put Indian economy back on the track.  

GST exemption on hand sanitisers, face masks, gloves, PPE Kits, temperature scanners, oximeters, ventilators, and the likes are expected. As this meeting comes at a time when the country is braving the second wave, the meeting is expected to take bold steps related to tax waiver on medical supplies and related equipment. Compensation to states is also on the cards.

Slashing GST rates for two-wheelers and bringing natural gas into the into the indirect tax fold could also be agenda, media reports said.  

Badal also said that bureaucratic decisions are setting dangerous precedents of subverting the process of law and stressed that the GST Council is a sum total of the Central and State legislatures for the purpose of GST and cannot be short circuited in important decisions. 

There is also a demand to make medical devices related to Covid 19 tax-free. 

Earlier, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal also told PTI that that life-saving items for COVID-19 have Basic Custom Duties of up to 20 per cent and GST of up to 18 per cent, and said they need to be tax free. 

"With millions of people suffering consequences of Covid and inadequate health infrastructure, taxes this high continue to apply on basic essentials needed to overcome this life-threatening disease," Badal had said. 

Meanwhile, the issues of restrictions on validity of E-way Bill, amendment in various rules placing additional burden of compliance on tax-payers, extending compliance burden of e-invoicing on mid-sized entities with turnover between Rs 100-500 crore and waiver of penalties in certain situations could also be discussed in the meeting.