Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Chairs 49th Meeting Of GST Council

Along with the Union Finance Minister, Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary, besides Finance Ministers of States and UTs, and Senior officers from government and states are also attending the meeting

The last GST council meeting was held on December 22, 2022.

Source : Twitter/Ministry of Finance

The 49th meeting of the GST Council is being Chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after the presentation of the union budget earlier this month.

The meeting is also being attended by Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary, Finance Ministers of States and UTs, and senior officers of the government.

Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman chairs the 49th meeting of the GST Council, in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, today. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/7tc9znXeOH

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) February 18, 2023

The goods and services tax (GST) council is an apex member body for amending, resolving, or obtaining any law or regulation related to goods and services tax. The last GST council meeting was held on December 22, 2022, which was the 48th meeting. 

The GST Council in its meeting on Saturday is likely to discuss setting up appellate tribunals and mechanism to curb tax evasion in pan masala and gutkha business, sources told the news agency PTI. The items, which could not be discussed by the Council in its last meeting on December 17, 2022, would top the agenda of the 49th GST Council meeting on February 18, it added. 

The report of the panel of ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST) on online gaming and casinos may not come up for deliberation.

The report of the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Odisha finance minister Niranjan Pujari, on checking tax evasion by pan masala and gutkha industry would be taken up for discussion.

The report of the GoM on Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals (GSTATs) was set up in July last year under the chairmanship of Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala. It has suggested that the tribunals should consist of two judicial members, and one technical member each from the Centre and states, besides a retired Supreme Court judge as president.

However, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma chaired a panel report on online gaming that is unlikely to come up for discussion. The report has already been submitted to the Union Finance Minister and it has to be circulated to states before it could come up before the Council for deliberation. The Group of Ministers, in its last meeting in November, had agreed on a 28 per cent GST on these segments.

CBIC Chairman Vivek Johri on Friday said that the Fitment Committee will meet to decide on rate reduction on cement as announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Currently, there is 28 per cent GST on cement said Vivek Johri.

The GST collections in December were 2.5 per cent higher than last month. In November, Gross GST collections stood at Rs 1.46 lakh crore. The GST collections have now exceeded the Rs 1.4-lakh crore mark for 10 months in a row.

The Ministry of Finance in its press release said that the gross GST revenue collected during December 2022 is Rs 1,49,507 crore, of which Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) is Rs 26,711 crore, State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) is Rs 33,357 crore.