GST is maybe India’s biggest assessment-related change since freedom carries consistency to the tax structure and dispenses with the falling of taxes that had been required previously. The GST Council meets occasionally to survey GST rates for various items. A few states and ventures propose raising the GST charge rate for the various things secured at these gatherings.
Since the introduction of GST, the GST rates of the different goods and services have changed several times.
Three forms of taxes are levied under GST:-
- CGST– Collected on an intra-state sale by the central government.
- SGST– Gathered on an intra-state selling by the state government.
- IGST– Collected on Inter-State Sales by Central Government.
Numerous changes were also seen in the GST rates of multiple items during the 2019-20 financial year. Here are similar highlights:-
Increases in GST rates at the 36th meeting of the New Delhi Council on 27 July 2019:
The following are the rate changes for the 36th meeting of the GST Council:
- All-electric vehicle GST rates have been reduced from 12% to 5%.
- GST taxes on chargers or electric vehicle charging stations were also lowered from 18% to 5%.
- The electric buses (carrying capacity of more than 12 passengers) hired by local authorities were exempted from GST.
Changes in the GST rate at the 37th meeting of the Goa Council on 20 September 2019. The rates agreed on at the 37th meeting of the GST Council are as follows:
| Product | Before | After |
| Parts of Slide Fasteners | 18% | 12% |
| Marine Fuel 0.5 % (FO) | 18% | 5% |
| Wet Grinders (including stone as grinder) | 12% | 5% |
| Dried Tamarind, Plates and Cups made of leaves/flowers/bark) | 5% | NIL |
| Cut and Polished semi-precious stones | 3% | 0.25% |
| Specific goods for petroleum operations taken under HELP) | Applicable rates | 5% |
| Goods like railway wagons, coaches, rolling stock (without refund of accumulated ITC) | 5% | 12% |
| Caffeinated Beverages | 18% | 28%+12% Compensation cess |
| Polyethylene/polypropylene woven and non- woven bag | 5%/12%/18% | Uniform 5% rate |
| Pulley, wheels and other parts and used as parts of agricultural machinery. | 18% | 12% for the period 1.07.2017 to 31.12.2018 |
Increase in GST rates at the 38th meeting of the GST Council held in New Delhi on 18 December 2019:
Under the leadership of Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the following exemptions in GST were declared:-
- From 1 January 2020, an individual with 20 per cent or more ownership of central or state government would be exempted from the upfront amount payable for a long-term lease of industrial/financial infrastructure plots.
- A single GST rate would apply to both state-run and state-authorized lotteries on @28 per cent from 1 March 2020.
A uniform GST rate of 18 per cent will apply from 1 January 2020 to all woven and unwoven bags and sacks of polyethene or polypropylene strips or the like, whether laminated or non-laminated, of a kind used in the packaging of goods.
