Govt received Representations seeking GST rate cuts on Knives, Spoons: MoS for finance

Govt received Representations seeking GST rate cuts on Knives, Spoons: MoS for finance The Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has informed the House that representations have been seeking a reduction of GST rates on items like knives spoons and water pumps sets. On a query whether government proposes to reduce GST rate slabs on above mentioned items, the Minister of State for Finance said that the GST rates and exemption were prescribed by the government, based solely on the recommendation by the GST Council which is a constitutional body consisting of members from the Union and State governments. The Minister also stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has yet to make such a suggestion. In another response to questions about gold smuggling, the Minister of State stated that the government intervenes through policy and operational means to combat smuggling. He told the House that in order to prevent gold smuggling, Customs field formations and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) regulate vigil and implement operational measures such as passenger profiling, risk-based interdiction and targeting of cargo consignments, non-intrusive inspection, aircraft rummaging, and coordination with other agencies. The ministers stated that circulars related to new approach or methods used by the gold smugglers are released from time to time. He further added that National Investigation Agency (NIA) has conducted investigations and filed charge papers in three incidents of gold smuggling in the last three years.