GST Council meeting: Rates on cancer drugs slashed

NEW DELHI: The GST Council meeting held on Monday decided to reduce the tax on three drugs for cancer treatment. GST Rate of Trastuzumab deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab will be reduced from 12 to 5 per cent.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that a sub-committee comprising ministers including KN Balagopal will discuss the issues related to GST for health insurance services and submit a report by the end of October. Meanwhile, the GST fitment of online transactions has been left to the committee. The minister expressed surprise over the soaring income generated by online games despite increase in GST.

No GST for...

Flying training courses of recognized institutes, research and development services using government and private grants by universities-colleges, and services of foreign airline companies.

• GST on salted and packaged food products made by extrusion process has been reduced from 18 to 12 per cent.

• 5% GST on passengers sharing seats in helicopters including for pilgrimage (18% will continue for chartering helicopters)

• GST on car and motorcycle seats increased from 18% to 28%.

• Reverse charge mechanism when it comes to providing metal scraps to unregistered person

• Two per cent income tax on supply of metal scraps by registered person.

• Business-to-consumer (B2C) invoicing for customers in selected states.

What did Kerala demand?

Minister KN Balagopal demanded a comprehensive rethinking of the tax rate on food items. Other states also supported the idea of ​​negotiating tax rates to encourage healthy eating habits. They also demanded the introduction of reverse charges and TDS for agricultural trade.