Jaisalmer: Following the 55th GST Council meeting, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several major decisions to simplify the GST process for skill training providers and small businesses. The Minister chaired the meeting of the GST Council at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
The Union Finance Minister announced that training partners affiliated with the Skill Training Council will be exempted from Goods and Services Tax (GST) during the press conference. However, she clarified that a notification will be issued to formalize this exemption.
The exemption move is seen as a step toward promoting affordable skill development initiatives in the country. The exemption is expected to lower the operational costs for training institutions, thereby encouraging more individuals to participate in vocational training programs. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, Ajay Seth (Revenue Secretary) along with Chief Ministers from Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, and Odisha, and Deputy Chief Ministers from Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana.
The meeting also discussed other matters. The GST Council approved a GST exemption for payment aggregators handling transactions below Rs. 2,000. However, states rejected the inclusion of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) under GST, viewing it as part of the crude and petroleum basket. The proposal to tax food delivery services by electronic commerce operators (ECOs) at 5% as a composite service was deferred for further analysis by the fitment committee. Discussions on health insurance premium GST are pending inputs from IRDAI. Contrary to expectations, online gaming GST was not discussed during this meeting.
