Wheat, Oats, Rice, Curd, Lassi Will Not Attract GST Anymore When Sold Unpacked. What it Means For Consumers

New Delhi: Amid strong opposition over imposing a 5 per cent GST on pre-packaged and pre-labelled items from Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced that wheat, oats, rice, curd, lassi will not attract GST anymore when sold unpacked. Interestingly, these items, which are mostly needed on daily basis, are at the moment falling under the ambit of the Goods and Service Tax.Also Read – New GST Rates Comes Into Effect Today: Check List Of What Gets Dearer And Cheaper

“The GST Council has exempt from GST, all items specified below in the list, when sold loose, and not pre-packed or pre-labeled. They will not attract any GST,” tweeted Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Also Read – GST Hike: Packed Milk And Food Products To Get Costlier In Kerala from Monday

Also Read – Consumers To Pay More GST From Monday: Check List Of Items Becoming More Expensive From July 18

In a series of tweet, Sitharaman said the decision to impose tax on pre-packed and pre-labelled items were taken by the GST Council as a whole and not one member. “The GST_Council has exempt from GST, all items specified below in the list, when sold loose, and not pre-packed or pre-labeled. They will not attract any GST. The decision is of the @GST_Council and no one member. The process of decision making is given below in 14 tweets,” she said.

Sitharaman said the GST Council recently in its 47th meeting recommended to reconsider the approach for imposition of GST on specified food items like pulses, cereals, flour, etc. “There have been a lot of misconceptions about this that have been spread,” she said.

“Is this the first time such food articles are being taxed? No. States were collecting significant revenue from foodgrain in the pre-GST regime. Punjab alone collected more Rs 2,000 cr on food grain by way of purchase tax. UP collected Rs 700 cr,” Sitharaman said in her tweet.

However, Sitharaman said it has been prescribed that GST on these goods shall apply when supplied in pre-packaged and labelled commodities attracting the provisions of Legal Metrology Act.

• list of items that will not attract GST when sold unpacked:
• Pulses/ Daal
• Wheat
• Rye
• Oats
• Maize
• Rice
• Aata/ Flour
• Suji/ Rawa
• Besan
• Puffed Rice
• Curd/ Lassi