BENGALURU: Home Minister Basavraj Bommai, who is deputing for Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in the GST Council, welcomed the recommendations of the Group of Ministers.Bommai urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to consider reducing GST on temperature-checking equipment from 18 per cent to 5 percent, gas electric and other furnaces for cremation from 18 per cent to 5 per cent and ambulances from 28 per cent to 12 per cent.
Sitharaman agreed to these suggestions and the GST Council approved them. The Council agreed to extend the GST concessions up to September 30, 2021. Bommai also sought a meeting to discuss GST compensation-related issues beyond 2022, and Sitharaman said that the GST Council will meet shortly.
Bommai thanked Sitharaman and the Union Government for approving the GST compensation loan of Rs 18,109 crore for financial year 2021-22 to the state and said that this will help in Karnataka’s fight against the Covid pandemic.