GST rates on cancer drugs cut, decision on health insurance postponed
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the GST Council has decided to reduce.
The rates on some cancer drugs. She further said that the council will take a call on the reduction in rate on medical health insurance at the next meeting in November.
Sitharaman, who chaired the 54th meeting of the GST Council on Monday, said that GST rates on some cancer drugs have been reduced to 5 per cent from 12 per cent. The council also reduced the rate on namkeen to 12 per cent from 18 per cent, she said.
The Finance Minister also said the revenue generated from online gaming has increased by 412 per cent in the last six months.
“The Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation and the GoM on real estate submitted status reports today. Status on online gaming and casinos was submitted. Revenue from online gaming has increased by 412 per cent at Rs 6,909 crore in six months,” she said.
Besides this, the minister said that the revenue from casinos went up by 34 per cent in the last six months.
On health insurance, Sitharaman said that the GST Council has decided to set up a new GoM on rate reduction, which will submit its report by end of October. The GoM will be headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who is currently heading the panel on GST rate rationalisation, she said.
“Two new GoMs have been decided. One is on medical and health insurance. It will be the rate rationalisation GoM headed by the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar but with newer members added for this limited purpose. We have told them that they will look into this matter and come up with a report by the end of October 2024. The GST council which will meet in November will finalise based on this report which will come from the GoM,” Sitharaman said.
Sitharaman said that a GoM will also be constituted to deal with the issue concerning compensation cess which will cease after March 2026.
The Finance Minister further said that a committee of secretaries headed by Additional Secretary (Revenue) will be formed on the IGST which is currently facing a negative balance. It will look into ways to retrieve the money from states.
Speaking about the GST Council decisions, Pratik Jain, Partner at PwC India, said, “GST Council has taken few far reaching decisions which will provide relief to broad spectrum of industry including real estate, IT (data hosting), foreign airlines etc. There also seems to be more urgency around rate rationalisation with council again scheduled to meet soon to discuss more.
Extension of E invoicing to B2C segment and mechasim like invoice management system (IMS) means that ambit of technology is increasing substantially which industry has to be prepared for. Next few months seem to be critical which will shape the future of our GST.”