Jaitley says 5 rate structures presented to GST Council, highest being 26%

The day one of the GST Council concluded with five different rate structures being presented to the panel. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the rate should be such that it should not affect the consumers, also keeping revenues of the states and the Centre in mind.

On day one of the three-day meeting, one of the presented was of the standard 18% rate and the highest proposal was made of 26%.

A committee headed by chief economic advisor Arvind Surbamanian has suggested a four rate structure with standard rate of around 18%, a lower rate of 12%, 2-6% for precious metals and a demerit rate of 40%.

The GST Council managed to sort out the details of the compensation to the states on account of any loss incurred due to the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

FM said so far all the decisions have been taken with consensus. The GST Council has to decide all issues through a majority vote of at least 75%. Centre has one-third vote and states together have two-third vote.