GST Rate Cut: Withholding Benefits To Consumers To Cost Dear

New Delhi: The GST Council met here on Friday, during which it approved a proposal to further streamline the GST registration. People will now have to give only their Aadhaar number in place of a host of documents.

The key takeaways:

1. A proposal to reduce the GST rate on electric vehicles from 12 per cent to five per cent has been sent to a fitment committee.

2. The committee will also look into the proposal of bringing down the GST rate on the electric charger from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.

3. Entities not passing on the benefit of GST rate cuts to consumers will have to pay a penalty of 10 per cent.

4. The proposal of a new electronic invoicing system and e-ticketing in multiplexes was approved by the GST Council.

5. The Council also agreed to extend the filing of annual returns under GST regime by two months to August 30.

This was the first meeting of the GST Council after the Narendra Modi government got elected to power for the second time, with the new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.