Government’s claim – Reducing GST on sanitizer hurt self-sufficient India, not much benefit to the public

Many sorts of questions are being raised on the imposition of 18 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) available sanitizers. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has claimed that if it’s reduced then it’ll hurt the government’s self-reliance campaign and consumers won’t enjoy it either.

●  18% GST charged available sanitizer
●  Many people are raising questions on this and manufacturers
●  The government gives clarification, GST council takes its decision

What did the finance ministry say
The Finance Ministry said, ‘There are reports within the media about the GST rate on alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Sanitizers are kept within the disinfectant category like soap, anti-bacterial liquid, Dettol etc. what proportion GST is to be levied on various items is set by the GST Council where the central government and every one state governments decide together.

This is the logic of the Finance Ministry
Giving clarification on Wednesday, the Finance Ministry said, “The staple utilized in preparing hand sanitizer like chemical, packaging material, etc. attracts 18 percent GST. So lowering the GST rate on sanitizers will cause an inverted duty structure (inverted tax structure) and it’ll hurt domestic manufacturers quite importers. By reducing the GST rate, its imports will become cheaper. this may be against the policy of self-reliant India of the country. Not only this, if the domestic manufacturers have problems with the reverse tax structure, then ultimately consumers won’t get the benefit.

What is the difficulty

Significantly, after the news of the imposition of 18% GST available sanitizer, many of us started raising questions on it. a couple of days ago the Director-General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) warned the products and Services Tax (GST) officials that companies making alcohol-based sanitizers were committing massive evasion.

In a letter to all or any the Principal Chief Commissioners and Chief Commissioners of GST, the GST Intelligence Unit has said that some sugar mills and distilleries are manufacturing and managing alcohol-based hand sanitizers. they’re categorizing this GST into HSN Code 3004 which attracts only 12 percent GST, while the sanitizer falls under HSN Code 3808 which should attract 18 percent GST.

Sanitizer isn’t an important item
Subsequently, on the complaint of Springfield India Distilleries in Goa, the Bench of the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) also ordered that 18% tax are going to be levied on GST. The company’s argument was that 12 percent GST should be imposed thereon. Some people even say that sanitizer comes in essential items, so GST shouldn’t be imposed thereon. But AAR says that albeit the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has considered sanitizer as an important item, the category of exempted items of the GST Act has been put aside and doesn’t include a hand sanitizer.