In its 56th meeting, the GST Council announced significant decisions, delighting the common citizens, small business owners, and farmers just ahead of Diwali. The council simplified the GST slabs to just 5% and 18%, while eliminating the 12% and 28% categories. Finance Minister shared these updates post-meeting, highlighting that essential goods like life-saving medicines and insurance policies, as well as milk, cottage cheese, and bread, now enjoy zero GST. Let's delve into the list of items granted tax exemptions. These new rates will take effect from September 22.
Zero GST on These Food Products
The Finance Minister unveiled a revised tax slab list, sharing goods initially taxed between 5% and 18% now rendered tax-free, falling under Zero GST. Notably, several food products benefit from this update. Ready-to-eat parathas, previously taxed at 18%, are now tax-free. The complete list of such products includes...
UHT Milk
Cottage Cheese
Paneer
Pizza
All Types of Bread
Ready-to-Eat Bread
Ready-to-Eat Paratha
Tax-Free Educational Supplies
Predictions held true as the government approved significant relief on educational supplies, moving them to the zero-tax slab, previously taxed at 12%. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman detailed items now enjoying zero GST.
Pencils
Cutters
Erasers
Notebooks
Maps and Charts
Globes
Water Survey Charts
Atlases
Practice Books
Graph Books
Laboratory Notebooks
Zero GST on Medicines and Health-Life Policies
Moving towards broader relief, the government extended zero GST to medicines and individual health and life insurance policies, now tax-free. According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the council eliminated the 12% GST on 33 life-saving drugs, including three cancer medications, making treatment for severe illnesses affordable and directly benefiting patients and their families.
Moreover, the council decided to render individual health and life insurance policies completely GST-free, a longstanding demand now fulfilled by the government.
Approvals for zero tax on various goods were granted at the GST meeting.
