A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his Government is always ready to take corrective measure to deal with issues facing the country’s economy, he held a marathon meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP chief Amit Shah to discuss measures that could ease slowdown pain in certain sectors. A follow-up action, including major relief for traders and exporters, is expected. Also there will be discussion to prepare a road map for the inclusion of petroleum products within the GST.
The GST Council is likely to shift 60 goods and services from 28 per cent slab to 18 per cent slab. Similarly many other goods and services under the 18 per cent ambit at present will be bracketed in the 12 per cent category.
The presence of Amit Shah, who cut short his Kerala tour, to attend the meeting, indicated that the Government wants to take into consideration the BJP’s stand on the proposed boost-up measures in view of the forthcoming Gujarat elections.
While the Government is unlikely to come out with any big bang stimulus package in view of warning by both RBI and experts that it could add to the fiscal deficit, there are indications that it is considering sectoral incentives to boost growth and employment.
Modi-Jaitley-Shah meeting was held ahead of the all powerful 22nd GST Council meeting scheduled for Friday. The council is expected to provide relief to exporters in terms of faster refunds as well easing up GST filing process. The council will also assess the improvements in the GST Network’s functioning.
Officials in the Ministry said that the Group of Ministers, set up to look into GSTN glitches, will also brief the council on the portal’s functioning.
The committee, set up under Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on issues faced by exporters, is likely to submit its preliminary report to the council on Friday. Based on that the council is likely to recommend some relaxation for exporters so that their
working capital which is locked up in refunds is released, officials said.
Also, the CBEC will inform the GST Council that it is ready to release IGST refunds to exporters from October 10. In a meeting with the Revenue Secretary last month, exporters had said that an estimated Rs 65,000 crore is locked up in GST refunds.
Also officials said that easy compliance for exporters, like quarterly filing of returns instead of monthly filing, is likely to be discussed by the GST Council. The Government has already allowed exporters to furnish letter of Undertaking. The Government is particularly keen to address concerns raised by exporters on delay in getting GST refunds.