47th GST Council Meeting: Withdrawal of exemptions

The GST Council’s 47th meeting was held in Chandigarh on June 28th and 29th, 2022 under the chairmanship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. The GST Council has inter-alia made the following recommendations relating to withdrawal of exemptions w.e.f. July 18, 2022:

GST was exempted on specified food items, grains etc. when not branded, or right on the brand has been foregone. It has been recommended to revise the scope of exemption to exclude from it prepackaged and pre-labelled retail pack in terms of Legal Metrology Act, including pre-packed, pre-labelled curd, lassi and butter milk.

In case of the following goods, exemption from GST will be withdrawn:

1. GST was exempted on specified food items, grains etc when not branded, or right on the brand has been foregone. It has been recommended to revise the scope of exemption to exclude from it prepackaged and pre-labelled retail pack in terms of Legal Metrology Act, including pre-packed, pre-labelled curd, lassi and butter milk.

2. In case of the following goods, exemption from GST will be withdrawn:

S. No.	Description of goods	From	To
GST rate changes
1.	Cheques, lose or in book form	Nil	18%
2.	Maps and hydrographic or similar charts of all kinds, including atlases, wall maps, topographical plans and globes, printed	Nil	12%
3.	Parts of goods of heading 8801	Nil	18%

3. In case of the following goods, the exemption in form of a concessional rate of GST is being rationalized:

S. No.	Description of goods	From	To
GST rate changes
1.	Petroleum/ Coal bed methane	5%	12%
2.	Scientific and technical instruments supplied to public funded research institutes	5%	Applicable rate
3.	E-waste	5%	18%

4. In case of Services, following exemptions are being rationalized: 

S. No.	Description
1.	Exemption on transport of passengers by air to and from NE states & Bagdogra is being restricted to economy class
2	Exemption on following services is being withdrawn. (a)   Transportation by rail or a vessel of railway equipment and material. (b)   storage or warehousing of commodities which attract tax (nuts, spices, copra, jaggery, cotton etc.) (c)   Fumigation in a warehouse of agricultural produce. (d)   Services by RBI,IRDA,SEBI,FSSAI, (e)   GSTN. (f)    Renting of residential dwelling to business entities (registered persons). (g)   Services provided by the cord blood banks by way of preservation of stem cells
3.	Like CETPs, common bio-medical waste treatment facilities for treatment or disposal of biomedical waste shall be taxed at 12% so as to allow them ITC
4.	Hotel accommodation priced upto Rs. 1000/day shall be taxed at 12%
5.	Room rent (excluding ICU) exceeding Rs 5000 per day per patient charged by a hospital shall be taxed to the extent of amount charged for the room at 5% without ITC.
6.	Tax exemption on training or coaching in recreational activities relating to arts or culture, or sports is being restricted to such services when supplied by an individual.

The Press release can be accessed at - https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1838020