Work in progress

• The GST Council recently unravelled some issues that were hanging fire for a long time, such as the constitution of Appellate Tribunals and the tax treatment for the booming online gaming industry.
• The Centre has given an assurance that the first set of tribunals should become operational in four to six months.

Proposals in the meeting

• 50 tribunal benches proposed: Industry may hope for quicker redress of mounting GST litigations clogging up courts.
• Decision to finalise a 28% GST levy on the face value of all bets placed in online games, casinos or horse-racing.
  • With the Electronics and IT Ministry also formulating a policy for online gaming, this decision, requiring an amendment to the GST law, may yet need some review and fine tuning.
• Other outcomes
  • Tax exemptions granted
  • Some rates reduced or clarified
  • Past incongruencies in tax payments on some items owing to confusion about their classification clarified

Consequences of the decision

• Impact on food and beverages in cinema halls
• It will now attract a lower 5% GST, as would unfried, uncooked snack pellets, fish soluble paste and imitation zari yarn.
• Drugs imported for cancer and some rare diseases were exempted
• The impact of some decisions on individual sectors will depend on the fine print.