GST council brings Kashmir carpet into zero tax regime

Srinagar, Jan 19: The Goods and Services Tax Council, in its 25th meeting, revised the rates applicable on several goods and services categories and discussed further simplification of the returns filing process, The Quint reported.
The panel accepted a proposal to reduce the GST rates on 29 goods and 53 categories of services, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a media conference after the meeting. The new rates will be effective from Jan. 25, he added.
The fitment committee, that decides what goods and services fall under which tax slab, also defined the items that fall under handicrafts. The committee identified 40 such handicraft items and more will be added based on the suggestions of the GST Council, Jaitley said, The Quint reported.
This is a “populist move” with the objective of generating employment and ease of doing business, Abhishek Rastogi, a partner at Khaitan and Co., said in an emailed statement. This will also “increase competitiveness in international markets” and give a fillip to exports, according to Vishal Raheja, DGM at law and taxation publisher Taxmann.
Here’s the complete list of goods and categories services for which the GST Council revised rates.
The GST Council accepted the fitment committee’s recommendations to revise rates of 29 goods and 53 categories of services. Given below are the items whose rates have been revised, reported The Quint.