Right move, wrong way

GST Council decisions are sound, but don't follow norms

The Goods and Services Tax Council took a series of decisions on Saturday last week, which were all steps in the right direction. The most significant change was the pruning of GST rates for more than 100 mass-use items such as refrigerators, washing machines and small-screen television sets, perfumes, cosmetics, vacuum cleaners, and shavers. The Council also reduced rates for some items such as sanitary napkins from 12 per cent to nil and for some others such as e-books from 18 per cent to 12 per cent. It is commendable that as the monthly GST revenue flows are stabilising, just