GST Council Meet Live: Gold At 3%, Beedis At 28%

The GST Council will meet on June 11 for its 16th meeting.

Silver and processed diamonds too will be taxed at 3 percent, like gold, clarified Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia.

All biscuits will be taxed at a rate of 18 percent under GST, Jaitley said. Earlier, biscuits under Rs 100 per kilogram were exempt of tax.

Rough diamonds have been fitted with a nominal rate of 0.25 percent, Jaitley said.

Gold, a contentious item, and gold jewellery will be taxed at three percent, Jaitley said.

Jaitley said that natural yarn was to be taxed at 5 percent. Man-made textiles would carry a rate of 18 percent, while all fabrics will be charged 5 percent.

Readymade garments would be taxed at 12 percent, with apparel costing below Rs 1,000 being taxed at 5 percent, Jaitley said.

Beedi leaf to be taxed at 18 percent, and the beedis itself would be at 28 percent, said Jaitley.

He added there will be no additional cess on beedis.

Footwear priced under Rs 500 will be taxed at 5 percent, from an existing rate of 9.5 percent, Jaitley said.

Footwear priced over Rs 500 will be taxed at 18 percent under GST.

Packaged items sold under registered trademark would be taxed at 5 percent, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the media briefing.

The Goods and Services Tax council met on Friday for its 15th meeting in New Delhi.

The agenda for the 15th meeting of the GST Council was to clear two important rules rules related to transition provisions and returns to be filed under the new indirect tax regime. The council had to also fix rates for commodities like biscuits, cigarettes, beedis, agricultural equipment, precious metals and textiles. The rate on lottery tickets was also taken up for consideration.

The rules related to transition provisions and returns to be filed under the new indirect tax regime were finalised by the council.