New Delhi:Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 46th meeting of the GST Council in New Delhi today.
Union Ministers of State in the Ministry of Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary and Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad will also attend the meeting.
"FM Smt @nsitharaman will chair the 46th meeting of the GST Council in New Delhi, tomorrow. The meeting will be attended by MoS for Finance @mppchaudhary and @DrBhagwatKarad, besides Finance Ministers of States and UTs and Senior officers from Union Government and States," tweeted the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.
This meeting holds importance ahead of the Union Budget which is presented on the first day of February by the Finance Minister in Parliament. This will be the fourth budget of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government in its second tenure.
Besides, several states including West Bengal, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab, have demanded that the proposed hike in GST on textiles and footwear from 5 per cent to 12 per cent should be rolled back.
GST Council in a meeting held on September 17 in Lucknow had decided to hike Goods and Services Tax on textile and footwear items from 5 per cent to 12 per cent effective from January 1, 2022.
On Thursday, Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories (with Legislature) for Union Budget 2022-23 in Delhi.
The meeting was attended by Union Ministers of State for Finance, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers, Ministers and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories (with Legislature) and the Union Government, the Ministry of Finance said in an official press release.
The Union Finance Secretary welcomed all the participants to the deliberation and informed the importance of this particular consultation meeting. Most of the participants thanked the Union Finance Minister for financially supporting their States/Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits, providing back to back loans to States, and through Special assistance for capital expenditure.
The participants in the meeting on Thursday gave numerous suggestions to the Union Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech. The Finance Minister thanked the participants for their inputs and suggestions towards Union Budget 2022-23 and assured to examine each of the proposals.
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