the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa will host the 36th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting on Friday, amid a struggling Indian economy and a number of its crucial sectors including auto and steel, facing trying conditions said to be triggered by tardy implementation of the national indirect tax regime.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the meeting which is expected to take some drastic decisions being clamoured for by the affected industry lobbies.
Sitharaman, who has been under intense media scrutiny after free falling numbers of growth and other key economic indicators, is expected to arrive on Friday. Finance Ministers of several States are also expected to arrive in the State for the meeting.
On behalf of Goa, Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho is slated to attend and the meeting will be keenly followed for what measures the Council will take vis-a-vis slashing of GST on hotel room tariff which will give relief to the local tourism industry.
Another crucial Goa-related matter that could reach the discussion table of the Council on Friday is the issue of Goa’s Casino industry where the Enforcement Directorate has flagged GST evasion by them on a massive scale.
Sources said the Council is already in receipt of a detailed explanation on behalf of the Casino industry claiming that the ED’s methodology to assess the GST is flawed and its findings of massive evasion by them, wide off the mark.
On Thursday, finance ministers of some 10 States arrived and those of some other States were expected to arrive later in the night. Officials of Goa’s finance ministry said, that a meeting of top Union Finance Ministry and GST Council officials was also held on Thursday as a preparatory exercise for the smooth conduct of the meeting on Friday.
Meanwhile, Goa’s tourism industry representatives formally presented a memorandum to Union Tourism Minister of State, Prahlad Patel seeking a cut in hotel room tariff rates of GST citing stiff competition from other destinations like Thailand and Sri Lanka in the Asian region.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, presented the memo to Prahlad in which they demanded rationalisation of GST slabs for room tariffs.
Currently the GST rates are 28 per cent for rooms with tariff of Rs 7,500 and above and for those in the Rs 2,500 to 7,499 range it is 18 per cent. The TTAG demand is to fix it at 12 per cent for both the slabs, according to the association’s president, Savio Messias.
