30th GST Council meet on Friday in New Delhi; cess proposal from flood-hit Kerala on agenda

High powered Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will deliberate on a host of issues when it will meet for the 30th time on Friday in New Delhi.

The meeting, which will be a come-back meet for union finance minister Arun Jaitley and is likely to consider Kerala government's request for allowing to levy a 10 percent cess to raise revenues for flood related rehabilitation works.

Government sources told CNBC-TV18 that Kerala government has put forward a request for 10 percent cess on States Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all commodities consumed in the state.

“As per initial estimates, if the council agrees to levy a 10 percent cess, then this move is likely to mobilise around Rs 60-70 crore per month.”

“However, this would need to be initiated through a different format of returns and challans, which will have to be developed afresh by Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) and it could take as much as six months,” sources say.

Sources further added that North Block is keen on getting a 1 percent cess on sin goods for Pan-India rather than agreeing to levy a 10 percent cess on SGST for Kerala.

“Government should be ready for contingency fund, which can be utilised for agriculture distress, natural calamities etc. However, it's for the council to decide tomorrow,” sources added.

Also on the agenda is a detailed discussion on the current revenue trends across India. According to the data, the revenue deficit of all states and union territories have started showing a declining trend.

Total states' revenue deficit currently is at 13 percent during April-August in this fiscal whereas, revenue deficit last fiscal stood at 16 percent.

However, in this fiscal, Pudducherry and Punjab continue to battle out highest revenue deficit of 42 percent  and 32 percent, but on the other hand, north eastern states have fared better with Mizoram recording the highest revenue surplus of 54 percent followed by 49 percent.

Let’s see what gets finalised tomorrow when the council meets.

The council will also take stock of current state of complaints under GST anti-profiteering law. Sources said that the council is likely to discuss and re-considering penalty amount on profiteering charges.

Currently, the penalty on profiteering charges is Rs 10,000. As per the data submitted by the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), as on September 15, Directorate General of Anti-profiteering (DG-AP) has 289 cases of pending investigations into charges of profiteering, of this 248, have been submitted by Kerala alone.

"DG-AP has completed investigations in 31 cases so-far,” sources said.

GST council during 28th council meet (held on July 28, 2018) had asked NAA to give a report regarding the action taken under the National Anti-profiteering law in the next meeting

The sectoral analysis of the complaints shows that maximum number of complaints have come regarding the FMCG: 269, followed by construction sector: 31, restaurants: 6 and 14 of other: 14.

Apart from this, the council will also consider a report submitted by union finance secretary, Hasmukh Adhia, on analysis of revenue deficit in some states to be considered by the GST council.

"Finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia visited Puducherry, J&K, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh till now and has made state specific suggestions to overcome steep revenue deficits," sources added.

“Also on the agenda is a proposal mooted by Punjab to address difficulties arising out of recent amendment to rule 96 of the CGST/SGST rules relating to exports. Proposal for IGST exemption to imported goods supplied for relief and rehabilitation of people affected by Kerala,” sources added.