Sanitary napkins to be exempt from GST, says Piyush Goyal

Sanitary napkins will be exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST), finance minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday after a meeting of the GST Council.

Sanitary napkins are taxed 12% under the one-year old GST regime, which attracted serious criticism from various quarters.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing 28th GST Council meeting in the capital, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also handles the state finance portfolio, said many items under the 28% slab have been brought down.

“I think the 28% tax slab should be done away with. The issue is being unnecessarily dragged,” he added.

In terms of tax returns, Sisodia said quarterly returns for traders having turnover up to Rs 5 crore has been approved by the GST Council.

This would mean there would be no input tax credit available, even though inputs in the production of sanitary napkins are taxed.

It is expected that the council would decide on revision of tax rates on vending machines and lithium ion batteries among others.

In January this year, a group of students from Gwalior had launched a campaign by writing messages on sanitary napkins to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to exempt the taxes levied on the product and make it free of cost.

First Published: Jul 21, 2018 18:14 IST