The Finance Ministry's revenue department on Thursday in a tweet clarified that gangajal (water from the holy Ganga river) and puja samagri (items) remain exempt under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Amid the claims of imposition of 18 per cent GST on Gangajal, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said that the need for clarification on applicability of GST on gangajal was felt because of certain news reports
“Gangajal used in puja by households across the country and puja samagri is exempt under GST. GST on puja samagri was discussed in detail in the 14th and 15th meetings of the GST Council held in 2017 and decided to keep them in the exempt list. Therefore, all these items have been exempt since the introduction of GST,” it said.
The Council had exempted goods such as kajal, kumkum, bindis, sindoor, alta, plastic and glass bangles, puja samagri of all kinds, from the purview of taxation under GST.
The CBIC said that GST on 'puja samagri' was discussed in detail in the 14th and 15th meetings of the GST Council held on May 18-19, 2017 and June 3, 2017, respectively and it was decided to keep them in exempt list.
Earlier in the day Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in a post on X said that the government has imposed an 18 per cent GST on Gangajal, terming it as the "height of loot and hypocrisy".
"It is good that you are in Uttarakhand today, but your government has imposed 18 per cent GST on the holy Ganga water itself. Not even once did you think what would be the burden on those who order Ganga water to be kept in their homes," Kharge said in a post in hindi addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, the GST Council in its meeting on Saturday decided to decrease the tax slab for molasses. The Council decided that molasses will be now taxed under the GST slab of 5 per cent, down from the previous 28 per cent category, and further exempted alcohol for human consumption from the levy.