India slashes GST rate on several products

NEW DELHI: Conceding a year long demand, sanitary pads today exempted from GST as the GST Council reduced tax rates on an array of daily use appliances and products.nnWhile GST tax on sanitary pads was cut from 12 per cent to zero, rakhis were exempted from the tax, India’s Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters here.nn”Sanitary napkins exempted from GST,” Goyal said.nnAmong items on which GST was reduced include footwear, small televisions, water heater, electric ironing machines, refrigerators, lithium ion batteries, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, food appliances and ethanol.nn”GST Council cuts tax rate on an array of products. Rakhis have been exempted from GST, tax on ethanol has been cut to 5 per cent, small handicrafts have been exempted,” Goyal said.nnBesides, tax rates on worked up Kota stone, sand stone and similar quality of local stones were cut from 18 to 12 per cent, with the purpose of avoiding classification disputes.nnThe value limit of footwear was enhanced from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for 5 per cent rate.?nnGST on 17 items used by middle class viz Paints, Refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, storage water heaters, TVs up to 68 cm was reduced from 28 to 18 per cent.nnThe next GST Council meeting will be held on August 4.nnSource: Press Trust of India