CII President advocates threerate GST structure

Ahead of the 53rd Meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council on June 22, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has urged for a GST structure with three rates and moderation of the current rates.

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The 53rd GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held on June 22, 2024, in New Delhi. In his first interview after taking over as President of CII, Sanjiv Puri told. That the Council should streamline GST into a three-rate structure with moderated rates. Currently, the GST rate list comprises five slabs: O per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent, and 28 per cent. Essential items, including food, are kept at a O per cent or nil rate. Common use or mass consumption items are in the 5 per cent slab, 12 per cent to 18 per cent are standard rates, and 28 per cent is for luxury products, tobacco, aerated drinks, and other demerit items. Puri also emphasized that petroleum products, electricity, and real estate should be brought under GST. Earlier on Tuesday, while taking charge as the new Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri stated that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) would work on bringing petrol, diesel, and ATF under GST. Asked about imposing GST on these fuels, Puri said, "We will try. The Minister of State (Suresh Gopi) and I will both work on it." The CII President also noted that many next-generation reforms lie in the state and concurrent domains and require tough consensus-building to move forward. He suggested that interstate institutional platforms, similar to GST Councils, be creat