99% items to be kept under 18% or less GST slab, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday indicated that the 28 per cent slab of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will soon only be restricted to a few select items such as luxury items.

Speaking at a Republic TV event in Mumbai this morning, Prime Minister Modi also asserted that efforts will be made to ensure that 99 per cent of all items, including items commonly used by the public, would be kept at a GST slab of 18% or less.

The Prime Minister's remarks come ahead of the next GST Council meeting which is scheduled to take place at the end of this week.

The 31st Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting will be held on December 22 in the national capital.

The agenda for the meeting has not been made official yet. However, topics such as simplified returns, completely online refunds process are likely to be discussed in the meeting.

The GST Council sub-committee reports on sugar, disaster cess are also likely to be taken up in the meeting.

In the 30th meeting, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley via video conferencing, the agenda revolved around the administerial progress made in the GST system. Nonetheless, discussions also happened around the necessity to levy cess in case of exigencies.