50th Meeting of GST Council

The 50th meeting of the GST Council in its meeting on 11th July 2023 announced several major decisions in the GST regime of different regions of India. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a press conference announcing the deliberations said that GST rates on four items have been reduced.

At the beginning of the meeting being held in the national capital, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released a short film titled 'GST Council - 50 steps towards a journey'. The film depicts the journey of the Council and will be made available in Hindi, English and several regional languages. Made in India, which will be available on multiple social media handles.

Change in GST tax rates:-

• The Finance Minister informed that the GST rate on unbaked or fried extruded snack pellets has been reduced from 18% to 5%.
• The rates on fish soluble paste have also been reduced from 18% to 5%.
• The tax rate on imitation zari thread has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.
• The council has also taken a major decision in the matter of tax on sale of cinema tickets and supply of food items like popcorn or cold drinks etc. The council has announced GST on food items sold inside Cineplex to 5 per cent instead of 18 per cent. Earlier, cinema tickets below Rs 100 attracted 12 per cent GST, while tickets above Rs 100 attracted 18 per cent GST.
• Along with this, other products on which GST has been cut include uncooked food pellets, fish and soluble pastes. The tax rate on these has been reduced from 18 percent to 5 percent.
• Cancer drugs have been exempted from GST under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. If someone imports cancer drug dinutuximab, used in the treatment of rare diseases, even for personal use, then IGST will not be levied on it. Till now it is taxed at 12 per cent. Its one dose costs up to Rs 63 lakh.
  Similarly, exemption from GST on import of Food for Special Medical Purpose (FSMP) has also been approved.
• The Finance Ministry has amended the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2022 through a notification. Under this, GSTN, which handles the technology arm of GST, has been included in the list of entities with which the ED can share information.
• Apart from this, the council also decided to exempt satellite launch services provided by private companies from GST.