A day after Nirmala Sitharaman formally assumed charge as Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, the government announced the date of the 53rd GST Council meet, which is scheduled for June 22, 2024, in New Delhi. “The 53rd meeting of the GST Council will be held on 22nd June, 2024 at New Delhi,” the official handle of GST Council on X, stated.
The previous GST Council meeting was held on October 7, 2023, and was presided over by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and attended by Finance MoS Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, the Revenue Secretary, Chairman CBIC, Member CM, Member GST, Member TP and senior officers from Union Government and States. In its October meeting, the GST Council had decided to impose a 28 per cent levy on online gaming, casinos, and horse racing.
Later in the March GST meeting, the council postponed the review of the 28 per cent levy imposed on the proceeds from online gaming.
Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner, EY, said, “The Council is likely to reach conclusions on matters pertaining to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that necessitate legislative modifications, including the taxation of online gaming activities and the designation of a date for the mandatory implementation of Input Service Distributor (ISD) provisions.”
Earlier on June 1, 2024, data released by the Ministry of Finance stated that GST collections during the month of May 2024 came in at Rs 1.73 lakh crore, recording a growth of 10 per cent on-year. For the previous month (April), GST collection had breached the Rs 2 lakh crore milestone. The gross GST collection during April had hit a record of Rs 2.10 lakh crore, up 12.4 per cent on-year.
The Ministry of Finance further added that the growth was driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions (up 15.3 per cent) and slowing of imports (down 4.3 per cent). After accounting for refunds, the net GST revenue for May 2024 stood at Rs 1.44 lakh crore, reflecting a growth of 6.9 per cent as compared to the same period last year.
The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) collection stood at Rs 32,409 crore and the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) came in at Rs 40,265 crore. Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), meanwhile, was recorded at Rs 87,781 crore, including Rs 39,879 crore collected on imported goods.