GST council forms committee to resolve MSMEs issues

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, who on Saturday chaired the 29th Goods and Services Tax (GST) council meeting, announced that a committee has been set up to look after the issues of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

Addressing the media following the meeting, Goyal said that the council has chalked out certain measures to ease the issues of MSMEs.

"Today we held a historic meeting of the GST Council. It was a meaningful discussion. One of the key issues that were resolved was that in last 13 days in all GST Council meetings the sympathy given to the MSME sector was appreciated by all. We have taken measures to ease the issues faced by MSMEs," Goyal said.

"We have decided that from now onwards the Law Committee will take decisions related to taxation law and the Fitment Committee will take decisions related to taxation rates. For the same, we have made a sub-committee, which will be headed by Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Shiv Pratap Shukla," he added.

The committee will also consist of Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi, Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac and Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

The council also announced that the GST incentives for digital payments via RuPay card and BHIM app will be rolled out on a pilot basis. Goyal also said that 20 percent cashback will also be available on digital payments through the BHIM app

"To promote digital transaction, increase compliance and collection in taxes, RuPay Debit and UPI-based transaction will get cashback of 20 percent for the GST paid, capped at Rs 100. The GST Council has decided to create software for this and any state willing can implement on a pilot basis," Goyal said.