New Delhi. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 54th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council held on Monday. The most important issue of this meeting was the GST exemption on health and life insurance premium. It was decided in the meeting that GST can be reduced up to 18% on health insurance premium. A Group of Ministers has been formed for further consideration on this subject. A final decision will be taken on this in the next meeting. Road, Transport and Highways Minister of Modi government, Nitin Gadkari has also written a letter to the Finance Minister demanding removal of GST from life and health insurance premium. Currently, 18% GST is levied on health and life insurance. If the government reduces or removes GST on this, then people will get cheaper insurance and the demand for insurance products in the country will increase.
Online gaming and other issues were also discussed in the GST Council meeting. The Fitment Committee, which is made up of central and state tax officials, will submit a report on GST and revenue on life, health and re-insurance premiums. Finance ministers of all states or their representatives attended the meeting held in Delhi. Atishi, who is in charge of the Finance Department in the Delhi government, said, “The proposal to remove GST on health and life insurance premiums has been discussed. A Group of Ministers will be formed to consider it further.”
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the proposal to remove GST on research grants was agreed upon in the meeting, which will encourage young people doing research. Uttarakhand Finance Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal informed that his government had proposed to reduce GST on helicopter service for Char Dham Yatra. Currently, 18% GST is levied on it, which has been proposed to be reduced to 5%. This will provide relief to lakhs of devotees. The issue of removing GST on health insurance will be considered in the next GST Council meeting. The new Group of Ministers will present its report by October.
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GST collection increased by 10.3% in July
GST collection has registered a growth of 10.3% in July 2024. The government said that Rs 1,74,962 crore has been collected from GST in August 2024, which shows an increase of 10% on an annual basis. The August collection has been recorded as the fourth highest collection collected in any month so far.
When was GST started?
GST was implemented on 1 July 2017, replacing 17 taxes and 13 cesses of the central and state governments. GST is an indirect tax that was implemented to replace many earlier indirect taxes. GST comes in four slabs—5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%.