Pre-Budget Discussion: Nirmala Sitharaman holds meeting with state finance minister

Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman chaired pre-Budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of states and Union Territories to take their views on board for the upcoming Union Budget 2024-25 right here on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Chief Ministers of Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim; Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana; State Finance Ministers and different Ministers; and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories (with Legislature) and the Union Government.

This shall be adopted by the 53rd meeting of the GST (Goods & Services Tax) Council on Saturday of which the finance ministers of states and UTs are additionally members.

The GST Council is more likely to deliberate on key points such because the taxes on fertilisers and the inputs of chemical substances used for making fertilisers and taxation on on-line gaming. The want for an modification to overrule retrospective tax calls for and a potential exemption for reinsurance can also be more likely to be taken up.

The council could focus on the suggestions made by the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers to scale back GST on uncooked supplies used to fabricate fertiliser to be able to right the inverted responsibility construction.

At current GST at a fee of 5 per cent is charged on fertilisers, whereas uncooked supplies like Sulphuric Acid and Ammonia face a better GST of 18 per cent.

A discount in tax on the import of upkeep, restore and operations (MRO) providers for overseas airways in India that are at the moment taxed at 18 per cent might also be taken up for consideration.

(With inputs from IANS)