Finance and Commercial Tax Minister Jagdish Deora has said that in view of the high production of cotton in Malwa and Nimar South-West region of Madhya Pradesh, the clarification regarding non-liability of GST on storage and warehousing of cotton will give relief to the cotton industry.
In his address on various issues in the 47th meeting of the GST Council in Chandigarh today, Minister Deora supported the proposal of the Fitment Committee that there would be no liability of GST on the sale of all types of plots.
He said that this proposal would be useful in clearing the confusion between the real estate sector and the persons buying the plots. It will also help in the development of the real estate sector.
The meeting was presided over by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. On behalf of the state, Principal Secretary Commercial Tax Deepali Rastogi and Commissioner Commercial Tax Lokesh Jatav were also present.
Finance Minister Deora said that animal husbandry activities are conducted on a large scale in Madhya Pradesh. According to the 20th Animal Census 2019, Madhya Pradesh is ranked third in the country’s animal husbandry activities. Animal husbandry is an important part of the rural economy in the state.
Finance Minister Deora informed that the task force constituted to increase GST revenue on the instructions of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has recommended how the registration process should be made favorable from the point of view of Ease of Doing Business, so that it could further strengthen business.
Minister Deora said it would be appropriate in this regard that the information given at the time of registration of the digitized database of land records, electricity bill, lease agreement, lease deed, property ID and property details in the urban local body is verified through API.
This will prevent getting bogus registrations. The use of artificial intelligence for this has also been suggested by the task force. Discussions have been held with the Dept of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India to start its pilot project in Madhya Pradesh.
Minister Deora supported the reduction in GST rate on Ostomy devices from 12 percent to 5 percent on account of it being a health utility item and being used repeatedly by critical patients for a long period of time.
He said that IVF is a ray of hope for childless couples in the present times. He supported the clarification regarding IVF treatment being tax free services as recommended by the Fitment Committee.
In order to remove the confusion arising out of having different tax rates on different articles of similar nature under the same head, the Finance Minister has supported the hike in the tax rate on all orthopedic implants to 5 percent.
